A Picture of Brokenness

One of the things that I have learned is that having a house will force you to learn to be a handy man. I am not there yet but I am still learning. Just a couple of days ago Gary Farmer had to help me with some electrical issues, Terry Bryant has helped me with some plumbing issues.

Last year we had a leak in the downstairs bathroom that ruined the floor and I had to completely rip up the floor to replace it with new floor. The old floor had rotted, it needed to be broken into to pieces and removed from the bathroom so that it could be replaced with a new floor.

There was a breaking down of the bathroom, a stripping away of everything that needed to take place before the new could come in.

Come to find out the drain pipe from the sink to the main drain under the house was full of filth. It was completely clogged and the only way I could clean it was to open the pipe (break the pipe if you will) and throughly cleanse the inside of the pipe.

But first the pipe had to be opened, it had to be broken if you will

V. 16 and 17 of tells us what pleases God, what is it that God delights in, God delights in a broken spirit, in a broken and contrite heart.

It pleases God when we are broken,

I think of when I read this Psalm, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

What we have here in is a picture of a man who is broken before God. tells us why he was broken, he was broken because God’s hand had been heavy upon him bringing conviction of his sin.

And of course is in the context of a particular situation that was read for us just a little earlier.

Someone read for us a little earlier the context in whichi this psalm was writtenLet’s read and see the picture of this man who had been broken by God.

But what we see in is what this brokenness before God looks like and what it leads to.

There are at least four things that we can learn from David’s brokenness in .

Sin is serious

We see David’s understanding of the

seriousness of sin

Notice just in v.1-4 David refers to his sin in 4 different ways

transgression, iniquity, sin, what is evil in God’s sight

These are different ways of saying the same thing, but it seems that the point David is making is the weightiness, the seriousness of His sin against God

This first word David uses that is translated transgression is used to speak of treason against a king in

In other places that word is translated, rebellion and the root meaning is that of breaking away from, rebelling

The next word that is used by David, iniquity comes from a root that carries the idea of being twisted of being distorted

The third word, sin, carries the idea of missing the mark

And finally David says that it is evil, it is wicked in God’s sight.

Sin is against God

Notice v.4, who did David sin against? Against Bathsheba, against Uriah, against his own wives, against the nation of Israel

But ultimately his sin was against God

His sin was an act of rebellion against the King of the Universe, his sin was an act of twisting and distorting the image of God whom he was created to image, his sin fell short of God’s standard. His sin was an offense to his Holy Creator.

His sin was more than an act

We see David’s understanding of sin and sinfulness. It wasn’t that David thought he was a good person who just happened to make a mistake, no what does David say?

He needs to be throughly washed (v.2)

I was brought forth in iniquity

Conceived in sin (v.5)

Implication of v.10 is that he has an unclean heartm.

David’s sin did not make him a sinner, instead the fact that he was a sinner made him sin.

At the heart of who he was an uncleanness, he was a sinner, a rebel against he God of heaven, one was was twisted and distorted within.

David understood himself to be a polluted stream, therefore filth flowed forth from him

David understood he deserved God’s wrath

David knew the law, in the OT the penalties for adultery and murder were both death. The OT law demanded David’s death. David understood that his only hope was mercy.

the first words of the psalm are a cry for mercy

v.4; God would be just if He unleashed all of His wrath against David

Think about the effects of David’s sin

The son conceived dies

Uriah dies

Emotional effects on Bathsheba

David’s family: next chapter in we are told the horrible story of Amnon and Tamar and how Absalom murders Amnon after his rape of Tamar

Absalom is eventually killed after his rebellion against his father

Some OT historians believe that this event in David’s life began the fracture of the kingdom that ultimately came to fruition during the reign of David’s grandson

Application

Brothers and sisters, we live in a day, we live in a culture where sin is dismissed, it is taken lightly. Unfortunately that is not only describing the culture of the world but of the modern church for the most part.

Oh one of the things that I pray for, is that we as a church would understand the seriousness of sin

Let me tell you, you know when God’s judgement is upon a people, when they begin to excuse sin, tolerate sin, when there is no shame in sin, when sin is boasted in, when sin is approved

When a so called church takes sin lightly, when a so called pastor does not proclaim the seriousness of sin to a congregation, that congregation may be huge and it may be growing and it may look like it is successful, but God is not pleased and His blessing is not upon them.

How can we take sin serious in our churches today when most churches completely ignore church discipline, how can sin be taken seriously when pastors do not call people to repentance but instead tell them how to live their best life now or how they can name and claim the latest blessing for their life

How can we take sin seriously when most Christians allow things into their homes on television that would have been considered out of the question not to long ago?

We have become desensitized to sin.

We live in a sex crazed society where all types of sexual immorality are celebrated as if we don’t understand that because of things like this the wrath of God is coming.

Listen to how seriously sin is taken in the Bible

Matthew 5:29–30 ESV

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

matthew 5.

Colossians 3:5–6 ESV

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.

Col. 3.

God is gracious

The second thing we see in is that God is gracious. Sin is serious, God is gracious.

Notice three words in v.1

Have Mercy, some translations, Be gracious. Here is the idea of showing favor of showing gracious kindness.

Notice it is according to your steadfast love.

David’s plea is for God to be gracious and merciful to him on the basis of God’s covenant love for him.

Oh God you have loved me, you have entered into covenant with me and out of love for me of God do not give me what I deserve.

Notice the next word here in v.1, according to your abundant mercy, the root of this word for compassion is the word womb and it carries the idea of the compassion a mother would have for the fruit of her womb.

Notice David does not plea with God on the basis of anything that he had done. David knows that if God gives him what he deserves he will be given death, instead David is pleading for grace and mercy.

David deserves death but instead he ask God to blot out his transgression.

Wash me and cleanse me

The question is this, if sin is serious and if God is holy then how can a holy God blot out transgressions?

v.7 purge me with hyssop

wash me

What is hyssop? a small plant that because of the way it was shaped and formed, could be used as a small brush. Priests would use hyssop to brush, or sprinkle blood over a sacrifice or offering.

Exodus 12:22 ESV

Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.

This is priestly language

The picture given here is that God will offer a sacrifice whose blood with cleanse the sinners of their sins.

In OT we are introduced to the idea of substitutionary atonement.

The fulfillment of this is found in the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world

Hebrews 9:11–14 ESV

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Notice again it is God who does the cleansing, David does not clean himself, instead he comes helplessly to God looking for Him to act on his behalf.

blot out in v.1

wash me and cleanse me in v.2

purge me and wash me in v.7

v.9

This is the good news of the Bible that though our sin is serious God is gracious and provides cleansing through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Confession is the connection

Sin is serious, God is gracious and now the third truth

Confession is the connection between our sin and God’s grace.

How is it that we receive God’s grace so that we are cleansed of our sin?

How can all of our sins be washed away? Confession is the connection, that is what this psalm is all about.

This psalm is about David acknowledging the serious of his sin and then pleading with God for forgiveness.

David admits his sin, admits that his sin deserves God’s wrath

Then he pleads for mercy

Psalm 51:7 ESV

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

There are some things we see about genuine confession, it is honest, David does not try to hide anything from God any longer. David does not lie to God or to himself about sin and what his sin deserves.

v.3-5

Notice before confession

Psalm 32:3–5 ESV

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

Ps.32:

Instead of being open and honest about sin what do we try to do so often?

hide it

make excuses for it

blame it on others

minimize it

The first thing we must do if we are going to know the grace of God is to be honest about our sin

Be notice David is also broken over his sin

v.3,4,8,12, 17

David is a picture of brokenness in this Psalm

This is what is pleasing to God, that we are broken over our sin, that we hate our sin, that we hate that we have sinned against our Good and Gracious God

Isaiah 57:15 ESV

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Matthew 5:3 ESV

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

James 4:9–10 ESV

Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

So how do we understand

1 John 1:9 ESV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So we see that confession connects us to God’s grace but lets expound upon that

Restoration is the result

God washes, he cleanses; there is forgiveness.

v.9-11

clean heart and right spirit

These are part of the promises of the New Covenant

Ezekiel 36:25–27 ESV

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Ezekiel. 36:25-27

We know and enjoy His gracious presence v.11

He re-establishes our joy in Him v.12

We are His witnesses v.13

We worship Him v.14 and 15

Conclusion

Oh what a beautiful picture, one who was broken but has been restored by the grace of God.

Believer, are you harboring sin? Or are you living a life of genuine confession before God?

Unbeliever, do you know the seriousness of your sin? Do you know the graciousness of God?

God calls you to confession, God calls you to look to Him alone and He will restore you

make you new

give you His Spirit (love, joy, peace patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, self-control)