Psalm 51:16-17

Psalm 51, we'll be reading verses 16 and 17.

For you do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise

I would give it. You are not pleased with burnt

offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken

spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God,

you will not despise. What is the one thing that

a broken sinner can give to God? What is the

one thing that a broken, conscience stricken

sinner can give to a holy and a sovereign God

that he will always accept? that he will always

be pleased to receive. David helps us answer

this question today. David tells us the sacrifice

that he will offer to God. We're going to look

at four things in this text. The sacrifice David

will give to God. Then we'll consider this sacrifice

in relation to repentance. Thirdly, in relation

to faith. And lastly, in relation to restoration

and the forgiveness of sins. Beginning with the

sacrifice that David will offer to God. He begins

and he clarifies for us, first of all, what he

will not offer to God. We read in verse 16, For

you do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I

would give it. You are not pleased with burnt

offering. What is it that David will not give

to God? What is it that David cannot? Give to

God. It's sacrifices and burnt offerings. These

two words, it's talking about sacrifices for

sin that was instituted because of the Mosaic

law, but also thank offerings. David is saying

that he won't give these to God because God doesn't

in himself delight or take pleasure in these

things. Now, there's a few reasons that David

won't. Give these to God and he will not be giving

these to God. He knows that God won't receive

them. He knows that God won't accept that as

satisfactory. David knows that sacrifice in and

of itself has no intrinsic value or worth that

makes the worshiper acceptable with God. If an

Israelite were to give a sacrificial offering,

and they were to bring it to the priest, and

they were to go through the ceremonies, but their

heart was unrepentant? But their heart was cold,

and their heart was cold, and their heart was

dull, and their heart was distant and removed

from God? What good would that sacrifice do for

that worshiper before God? Would God be pleased

with that sacrifice if the individual's heart

was still far from God? No, the Bible is clear.

The sacrifice has no intrinsic value or worth

that pleases God. We can look at passages like

Isaiah chapter 1, which reads, Hear the word

Isaiah 1 · chapter mention

of the Lord, starting in verse 10, you rulers

of Sodom. Give ear to the instruction of our

God, you people of Gomorrah. What are your multiplied

sacrifices to me? says the Lord. I have had enough

of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of

fed cattle. I take no pleasure in the blood of

bulls, lambs, or goats. When you come to appear

before me, who requires of you this trampling

of my courts? Bring your worthless offerings

no longer. Incense is an abomination to me. New

moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies.

I cannot endure iniquity in the solemn assembly.

I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed

feasts. They have become a burden to me. I am

weary of bearing them. So when you spread out

your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from

you. Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I

will not listen. Your hands are covered. With

blood. God does not delight. And take pleasure

in sacrifice. Because of any intrinsic worth.

Or value in sacrifice. What does God want. From

those who come to him. He says in verse 16. Wash

yourselves. Make yourselves clean. Remove the

evil of your deeds. From my sight. Cease. To

do. Evil. There's something that God desires

more than sacrifice. There's something that God

takes more delight in than sacrifice. He wants

the worshiper's heart. He wants the worshiper's

contrition and brokenness in the very core of

their being. Not only is it that God doesn't

delight and take delight and pleasure in these

things, but David can't. He would be more than

happy to offer thousands and thousands of sacrifices

if that pleased God, if he could, but he can't.

There were no offerings for David's sins. God

had appointed no sacrifice to cover adultery

and to cover murder. You know what was the penalty?

That's what David should have gotten for his

sins. But God was gracious to him. He didn't.

So even if he could offer sacrifices, David couldn't.

He was incapable of bringing these things to

God. So what is the sacrifice? What is the offering

that David will give to God? He tells us in verse

17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,

a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will

not despise. David says, I'll give to God what

I have. Brokenness and contrition. He uses two

very strong words. This idea of brokenness, this

word, it carries the idea of being splintered

or shattered to pieces. It carries the idea of

a ship going down along the ocean and running

into land and the front of it shattering into

a thousand little pieces. And then there's the

idea of contrition or contrite heart. It carries

the idea of being crushed or ground down to powder.

David's saying that God wants his heart, his

inward contrition, his inward brokenness. And

that's the sacrifice that he will give to God.

His inward grief and mourning, brokenness, contrition,

and affliction over his sin. God doesn't want,

God does not want some... He's not looking for,

and David's not offering, some morbid, melancholy

introspection that leads to despair and hopelessness

that just has a negative outlook and is hypercritical

of self. He's looking for brokenness and contrition,

mourning and grief over sin, over transgression.

Over iniquity, over breaking God's law and transgressing

his holiness. That's what David will give to

God. David's saying that the sacrifices of God,

which God will accept, which God is delighted

with, which God will receive, which God is pleased

with, is true, sincere. Heartfelt grief and brokenness

over sin against God. That's what David will

give. Did you know, brothers and sisters, that

God wants your heart more than anything else?

Did you know, brothers and sisters, that God

wants your desires? He wants your affections.

He wants your longings. He wants your inner man.

Think about all the things in your life that

you put your heart into. Think about all the

things in life that your heart is involved with,

that your heart is poured out into. Is your heart

involved in this? Is your heart involved with

the people of God? Is your heart involved in

the preaching of God's word? Is your heart involved

in the worship and praise of God? Is your heart

involved when you come to the Lord's Supper?

Do you consider your heart before a sovereign,

all -knowing God that wants your inner person?

Or are you just going through the motions like

you've always done? I've always come to church.

I've always gone to church. My family's always

gone to church. It's good for me. It's good for

my family. I'm going to do this because it's

a good decision. And it's what I ought to do.

All of Edwards County goes to church. All the

good people, all the moral people, they go to

church. I'm going to go to church. All the while,

your heart is not involved in it at all. It's

just motions. It's just repetitions. It's just

outward religious acts. That does not please

God. He does not delight in that. He finds no

satisfaction in that whatsoever. He takes no

delight in the fact that people's hearts are

far and distant and away from him when all the

time their lips are close. He finds no pleasure

in that whatsoever. He wants you. He wants the

deepest part of you. He wants your inner man

to delight and to submit to him and his law.

He wants your inner man to love Jesus Christ

with every fiber of your being. He wants your

heart. Is your heart involved in this? Is your

heart involved in eternal realities and eternal

things of God or just the things of this world?

Just carnal things. God wants our hearts. This

leads us secondly to consider David's sacrifice

in relation to repentance. His brokenness and

his contrition in relation to repentance. We

must ask the question, what is the relationship

between a broken heart, inward contrition, and

true repentance. What's the inner workings there?

How do the two relate to each other? When we

consider the context of this, we have to remember

that this is the final appeal that David is making

for himself. We find in 18 and 19, he's talking

about Israel and the nation in general. But this

is his final culminating appeal with regards

to true repentance. And we know that David's

talking about true repentance in Psalm 51, don't

we? We know he's talking about genuine, true

repentance because he's restored. Because he's

forgiven. So if David is still talking about

genuine, true repentance, and now he's talking

about brokenness, we must conclude that all true

repentance always has genuine brokenness and

mourning that accompanies it. True repentance

is always from and always carried out in brokenness,

and contrition of heart. People who truly repent

are people who truly mourn their sin. This helps

us. It helps us answer a few questions. It kind

of gives us a litmus test of sorts with regards

to brokenness and with regards to repentance.

The sincerity, the truthfulness, the real nature

of repentance, the sincerity and the truthfulness

of brokenness in our lives. This helps us understand

these two things. So if we know that he's talking

about true repentance, and we know that he's

talking about brokenness that is involved in

true repentance, then we must say that brokenness,

if it's godly, if it's holy contrition, if it's

godly sorrow, will always produce true repentance.

So if your brokenness over your sin doesn't bring

about the actual forsaking of sin in your life,

You're not broken of your sin. It's some carnal,

worldly thing. It's the fear of man. It might

be the fear and trembling of the law of God,

but it's not godly sorrow that produces genuine

and true repentance in your life. So your brokenness,

it might be some sort of brokenness, but it does

not lead to life. It does not lead to salvation,

and it does not lead to repentance and faith

in Christ. So if your sorrow, your brokenness

in your heart doesn't lead you to actually forsaking

sin, then it's not true godly sorrow. But it

also tells us that all repentance that is offered

but is devoid of godly sorrow is not true repentance.

So if you repent and you turn from your sin and

you look to Christ, for there's no grief over

your sin. There's no contrition over what you

have done in your heart. There's no moral turmoil

in your heart because you've transgressed God's

law. It's merely an act. It's merely emotion.

It's merely something you intellectually decided

to do. Brothers and sisters, that is not true

repentance. It's not. It's false. It's superficial

repentance. True repentance always, always has

a degree of godly sorrow and brokenness and mourning

and grief. That's with it. Have you offered God

repentance in your life lately? In a passing

moment? Have you offered God repentance in your

life lately or recently? Not thinking about what

you're doing? Not considering the implications

of it? Knowing that that's what good Christians

do, so I repent, I say I'm sorry. That's not

genuine and true repentance, brothers and sisters.

Genuine and true repentance always comes from

a place of mourning and brokenness. Yes, the

degrees will vary. The intensities of that sorrow,

the intensities of that brokenness, they will

fluctuate, they'll go up and down, but it will

be present. This helps us in another way. It

also teaches us that if a person has never experienced

and contrition over their sin, they are not a

Christian because they have never truly repented

of their sin. Have you been broken and grieved?

And has that grief, that brokenness, driven you

to forsake sin? And has that forsaking of sin

driven you to Christ? Because if it hasn't, you

don't know anything of Christ. If you've never

grieved over your transgression of God's law,

the ill repute that you brought to Christ, The

hypocrisy and shame that you have heaped on the

church or his people, the hypocrisy and shame

you have heaped upon Christ in his name. If that

has never brought sorrow into your soul, how

can you know Jesus Christ? This is a personal

heart issue. That's what repentance is. We're

not talking about everybody else's brokenness

right now. We're not talking about our neighbor's

brokenness and their sorrow and their sin. We're

not talking about the person down the road. We're

not talking about the person sitting next to

us. We're talking about your hurt and your sin

and your brokenness. That's the issue. We have

a tendency to talk about everything else that's

broken and all the while avoid our own hearts.

Brothers and sisters, repentance has to do with

your heart, your soul, your sin, your brokenness.

It's your life that has sin in it. It's your

life that has the issues. Yet all we can do is

talk about everybody else. It's a personal issue.

And we have to look at our own hearts in light

of Scripture and cry out to the Lord Jesus Christ

to help us through the Spirit of God. Don't look

everywhere else. Look here. Look at yourself.

If you can't find anything in there, there's

an issue with your heart. It's our own brokenness

we need to consider and we need to deal with.

But we must also consider David's sacrifice in

relation to faith. The amazing thing about this

is that David has a confidence that God will

not despise his brokenness and his contrition.

Look at the last part of verse 17. A broken and

a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

What hope and encouragement is found in this?

David knows that God will be pleased with his

brokenness and his contrition. He knows that

God will accept it, that he will delight in it,

that he will receive this offering that he gives

to God. But we have to ask the question, why

is it and how is it that God receives brokenness

and contrition from a sinner? How is it that

God delights and that God is pleased with that?

Brothers and sisters, the reason being, the reason

and the way that God is pleased with a broken

and a contrite heart is because true brokenness

is bound to true repentance. And true repentance

is bound... to true and saving faith. And what

is true and saving faith bound to? Something

that is truly and genuinely delightful on the

side of God. True saving faith is bound to something

that is actually accepted and actually delightful

to God. Something that God loves dearly. Something

that God is pleased with. Jesus Christ. That's

why our brokenness is received because our repentance

is bound to faith and our faith is bound to the

Lord Jesus Christ and His perfect sacrifice.

You are acceptable. I am acceptable to God because

Christ is actually acceptable and pleasing to

God. But if you are outside of Christ, Nothing

you do, nothing you say, nothing you think, nothing

you offer will be pleasing or received or acceptable

whatsoever. But if you're in Christ, you will

be as delightful to God as Christ, his own son,

is delightful to God. He will love you with the

same love that he has for his son. He will delight

and take pleasure in you as he delights and takes

pleasure in Jesus Christ. So it's not brokenness

and contrition in and of itself, but it's the

fact that brokenness and contrition are a sign

of a heart that is in possession of saving faith

and is in union with Jesus Christ. By faith.

A broken and contrite heart is a heart that is

devoid of self -dependence. A broken and contrite

heart has no power and no strength in and of

itself to stand, to be pleasing to God. It's

broken. There's nothing there. There's nothing

to offer. A heart that mourns and grieves over

its sin, It's cast on Christ by faith. And it's

the only way that that heart will stand. The

Christian life really is a cycle, we could say.

It's a cycle of applying and reapplying the healing

balm of Jesus Christ to sin -stricken hearts.

So what do we do in this life? We're broken over

our sin. We go to Christ by faith. We're broken

over our sin. We run to Christ by faith. We know

and we see our need for the gospel. And we go

and we run and we apply the gospel to our hearts.

We're broken. And then we're received by God

through Christ. That's the Christian experience,

brothers and sisters. Praise God. But the absence

of brokenness and contrition in our hearts also

says something. If a broken and contrite heart

is devoid of self -pride and self -arrogance

and self -dependence, what does the absence of

mourning and grieving and affliction over our

sins say? What does it say about your heart?

What do the realities of your heart say concerning

brokenness, mourning, affliction and sorrow over

sin? It may say something of self -righteousness,

self -dependence. Self -confidence. It may say

something of the reality that I don't know Christ.

It may be telling you that you don't have a true

brokenness because it's never driven you to true

repentance. What does the occasional in light,

grief, of sin say in your heart? What does it

tell you today? What does the weakness of your

contrition in your life on a daily basis say

to you right now? What does it say about the

strength of your faith? What does it say about

your gaze upon Christ? We all have a great deal

of growth and potential for growth ahead of us.

May God help us see our brokenness, experience

our sorrow, to have a deeper, more meaningful

contrition over our sin. Lastly, we must consider

David's sacrifice in relation to restoration

and forgiveness. Brokenness always accompanies

true repentance. So what conclusions can we make

about restoration and forgiveness? Well, if brokenness

always accompanies true repentance, that leads

to restoration. Then we can very thoroughly say,

none are restored who are not broken. None are

recipients of mercy and grace. None are purified.

None are cleansed in their conscience, none are

useful, and none reach that point where they

praise God with gladness and joy in their heart

if they're not first broken over their sin. Every

single person who's ever been restored by Jesus

Christ into good and faithful and warm and sweet

fellowship with him, As a believer, every single

one of those people, they've first been broken

and crushed and contrite over their iniquity.

None are restored. None are forgiven who are

not first broken. Now, this is good news, brothers

and sisters. This means that after brokenness

comes After brokenness comes usefulness. After

brokenness comes sanctification. After brokenness

comes renewal, restoration, fellowship, and forgiveness

of sins. But what happens if you take away the

brokenness? Or you seek to diminish or remove

or do away with the brokenness and the sorrow.

What will it do to your sanctification? To your

usefulness? To your joy? Your gladness? To your

praise? It's a package deal. One in this hand

and the other in this hand. Brokenness coincides

with the experience of joy in the Christian life.

Brokenness and contrition over sin coincide with

sanctification and holiness in the Christian

life. Brokenness is not a bad thing. It's not

a negative thing. God wants us. To think and

feel rightly about our sin in this life. It's

an essential, foundational, and necessary element

of the Christian experience in this life. If

we seek to do away and remove with the brokenness

and the contrition of sin, the seriousness of

sin and repentance, then will the joy be real

true? Joy. Or superficial. Light. Joy. We have

to think about the role of conviction. The role

of the word of God in brokenness and contrition.

We think to ourselves, well, if we are to be

broken, and it's good for us to be broken over

sin, then how does that come about? How am I

made to be broken? How am I made to be contrite

in my life? God uses conviction. God uses the

word of God. He uses prayer. He uses the appointed

means that he's given to the church of Jesus

Christ. So whenever you feel conviction, don't

try to soothe it. Don't try to shake it off.

Don't try to get rid of it. It's the Spirit of

God seeking to crush you over your sin that you

might experience the heights and the width of

joy in your life. That you might be sanctified

and grown. That you might be edified and strengthened

in your soul. So don't do away with it. Accept

it and embrace it. Expose yourself to the word

of God regularly. Read it, study it, meditate

upon it. Ask God to help you. Ask God to give

you brokenness and sorrow over your sin. He will

answer that prayer, brothers and sisters. He

will show you the true need of your heart. He

will lead you through the paths that lead to

joy and life and strength and glory to his name.

So we've seen David's sacrifice that he will

offer to God. What is the one thing? That a broken

sinner can give to a holy God that he will always

receive was the one thing that you, brothers

and sisters, can offer to God this very hour,

this very minute. That he will receive and delight

in, he will take pleasure in a broken and a contrite

heart.