Biblical Repentance 10 - All of Grace and All for the Glory of God

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Biblical Repentance 10

All of Grace and All for the Glory of God

Psalm 51:16-19

Grace Fellowship Church

August 30, 2009

Series 5 Sermon 10

 

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy 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, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.  14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.  15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.  18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;
19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

 

Introduction

Pride is a destroyer.  It is the killer of all things good.  Spiritual pride leads to spiritual destruction.  1 Corinthians 10:12 says, 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.

James 4:6 says: "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."

So even after the Lord has shown us our sins, has granted us repentance and faith in Christ, we still have a great propensity to fall into the heinous sin of pride.  Even after we spend ten weeks in Psalm 51 and we look at how God initiates conviction of sin, grants repentance and faith in Christ, and is the power that enables us to walk in sanctification we all get kind of like the kid who rides his bicycle without training wheels for the first time and begins to look at his feet and runs into a tree. 

 

Or we become like Peter who has his eyes on Christ and begins to walk on the water and then starts noticing everything else around him and finds himself drowning.  It is Christ who pulls the drowning disciple from the water and it is Christ who carries us through this life.  

 

As we wrap up this series on Psalm 51 we have a final reminder of the grace of God in the salvation of sinners.  Some commentators feel this Psalm ends quite abruptly or that these verses may have been added by another person years after David penned the others.  But I don’t believe that is true at all. I think they miss the point.  They miss what the Prophet and the Psalmist David is teaching us sinners.  Remember verse 13?  Look at it. 

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways... 

 

Psalm 51 is one of the ways that David is teaching us the ways of God and has been used to bring sinners to repentance throughout the centuries.  And that is precisely what David is doing in verses 16-19.  He is teaching us the ways of God regarding the grace of God in salvation and sanctification. 

 

PNP

So from our text this morning I want you to see three final reminders that salvation and sanctification are all of grace and ultimately for the glory of God. 

1.  Propitiation is all of grace because man’s sacrifices are not pleasing to God. (16 & 17)

2.  God’s blessings are all of grace because they are according to His good pleasure. (18)

3.  Good works are all of grace because they will be done God’s way for God’s glory. (19)

 

Purpose

My purpose in preaching this passage is to show you and remind you that redemption is an act of God by the grace of God and for the glory of God.  Redeemed humans will receive the blessings of God in salvation but we will receive none of the glory.  We are recipients of God’s grace and in that we will bring God glory but we will be forever in awe of the glory of God in eternity.  So we might as well grow accustomed to that right now. 

 

RPNP

So look with me this morning at these three final reminders that salvation and sanctification are all of grace and ultimately for the glory of God. 

 

1.  Propitiation is all of grace because man’s sacrifices are not pleasing to God.

Notice with me verse 16. 

16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

Now I want you to keep in mind that David is in the middle of the Old Covenant sacrificial system.  The Old Covenant is a God ordained sacrificial system.  So what is David saying?  Is he saying that God is not pleased with this sacrificial system?  After all it is the Lord that instituted the sacrificial system very early on.  So it can’t be that.  Or is it that the two major sins that David committed had no sacrificial atonement in the Old Covenant?  It could be this.  The punishment for adultery and murder was death.  I said it could be this but I want you to notice verse 16 again.

16 For you will not delight in sacrifice,

David is not so much concerned about the mere letter of the law as he is the spirit of the Law.  The requirement of God was important to David but what was more important to him was that he knew that God should be delighted in him.  There is more in verse 16. 

or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

 

So I think what David is saying is that although God instituted the sacrificial system it is not mere sacrifices that God is looking for.  There is more to it than mere obedience.  What David shows us is that there is a heart issue.  Look at verse 17.

 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 

 

Now here is where most of the modern Christians will get off board.  But I want you to stay on board with me because this is important.  The sacrifices that are pleasing to God and in which He delights come from the heart.  A broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart will not be despised by the Lord.  Now modern people want to feel good all the time.  We don’t want to think about having a broken heart or a contrite or crushed heart.  That is painful.  And pain is bad.  Except in matters spiritual.  The problem is that we have a wrong view of the law and how the law is supposed to work.  We think of the law often like we think of our own justice system in our country.    

 

Think about it like this.  You are driving down Highway 49 and you are doing 70 MPH in a 55 MPH zone.  The officer has his radar on and you are clocked.  He pulls you over and writes you a ticket.  Of course you are upset.  Why today?  You get angry and you send in your money to pay the ticket.  You know your insurance is probably going up and if you have done this too often then you might lose your license.  The natural reaction to a traffic ticket by the typical American is anger.  Or they simply dismiss it, pay the fine and never think about it again. 

 

But I want you to think about it this morning.  There is the letter of the law to deal with and there is the spirit of the law.  The letter of the traffic law states that if you are caught exceeding the speed limit then an appropriate fine is given and if paid promptly that is the extent of the consequences. The law is there to keep traffic moving and to reduce accidents and the number of serious injuries from accidents.  Otherwise Highway 49 may look like a road heading into Baghdad during the height of the Gulf War.  That is the letter of the law.

 

But there is a spirit of the law as well.  Knowing that the law has been set up for our protection on the roads we should obey that law.  And when we do not obey that law we put all kinds of people’s lives in jeopardy.  All kinds of things could happen that could take someone’s life if we are speeding.  Plus the officer places his life in danger by having to get out of his vehicle to walk up to ours to write the ticket.  Instead of anger there should be some remorse.  That is the point of the fine.  The fine is expensive so that you will no longer speed and put others and your life in danger.  It is to cause you to think about what you have done and how you have broken the Law. 

 

Plus, if you drive over the speed limit as a Christian you are not only breaking the law of the land you are also breaking God’s Law.  We are called to obey and submit to those in authority over us and we have not done so.  The problem is that this is a symptom of a larger problem in our culture.  We think too much of ourselves and too little of offending God. 

 

We make sin out to be trivial and not really that offensive.  This is what takes place on a pretty consistent basis.  If you watch hardly any television at all this attitude is piped right into your living room. All kind of sin is made light of. 

 

But I hope none of you carry this attitude so far that you have no remorse for sin.  Let me say to you this morning that you can not atone for one single sin that you commit.  Not one.  You can not do enough good things even as a Christian to make up for the attitude you had this morning or yesterday against your wife, husband, mother, or father.  You are absolutely helpless in regards to paying for your own sins.  That is why hell is eternal and not temporary.  Sin against an eternal God has eternal consequences. 

 

David understood this full well.  He knew that he had sinned against God and no amount of sacrifice given to the Lord would atone for that sin.  He needed much more.  Sure it was true that there was no sacrifice for murder and adultery and thatno amount of sacrifice could atone for these sins that were worthy of death in the Old Covenant. 

 

The problem is that human nature gets this all wrong.  It is a total misunderstanding of the Law and the sacrifices.  What many of the Jews thought in the days of David and in other days was that they could sin and then just offer a sacrifice and everything would be just fine.  But that was not the point of the Old Covenant.  Listen to Galatians 2:16.

16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.

 

What David understood is what Paul explains.  No one can be justified by the Law.  This is why works based salvation is not true salvation.  This is why no matter how hard you try ultimately it is only God’s mercy and grace that can save us and not any so called good thing within us or good works that we can do.  Notice again what David says in verse 17.

 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 

Notice that the sacrifices that please God is a spirit that is broken and not proud.  It is not a spirit that has everything together.  It is not the Pharisee at the temple praying.  David’s heart is the same as the publican at the Temple praying.  His heart is broken.  It is contrite or repentant.  These are the sacrifices of God.  And verse 17 says that God will not despise this person. 

"GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."

Now I want you to also understand that this broken and contrite heart is not a meritorious work on the part of David or us.  This broken and contrite heart and spirit is a work of grace wrought by the Holy Spirit of God through the proclamation of the Word of God.  Remember it was Nathan that came to David.  It was the Word of God that convicted David and the Spirit of God that brought brokenness to David.  It was the conviction of  sin brought about by God that made David seek the mercy of God. 

 

Let me tell you the difference between the broken heart that God accepts and the proud heart that He despises.  The proud heart acts as if God owes him or her something.  The broken and contrite heart desires the mercy of God and His grace.  The repentant sinner knows that his or her repentance is not meritorious for salvation.  It is casting ourselves on the mercy of God and praying for His grace. 

 

This is the part we have such a difficult time with.  Often we think that we have done something in our salvation when we actually have not.  Some will say that we have repented.  We have believed.  These are the conditions for salvation but they are not works.  They are faith and faith is not a work.  Faith is the result of the grace of God poured out on a sinner.  In conviction of sin and the call to repentance we are left empty handed and without hope of self justification.  True conviction from the Holy Spirit leaves us like a beggar.  We have nothing.  We can offer nothing.  It is then and only then that we can look to Christ and Him alone for salvation. 

 

What we need to do is look at this passage through Gospel tinted glasses.  Remember this is in the context of repentance, justification, and sanctification.  If salvation is all of God’s grace then sanctification is by God’s grace and keeping us is by His grace.  I have said this before but it needs to be repeated.  Christ does not save us and leave us to ourselves.  In the New Covenant God has decreed that He will be merciful toward our iniquities and will remember our sins no more.  It is the broken and contrite heart that pleases the Lord.   It is the empty hand that the Lord fills.  Salvation is all of God’s grace because it will be all for His glory.   That is first this morning.  Second we need to see that:    

 

2.  God’s blessings are all of grace because they are according to His good pleasure.

Notice verse 18.

18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;
Keep in mind the order here.  God’s grace has brought about a broken and contrite heart in David.  God’s grace has produced salvation for the sinner.  And now the sinner has the audacity to ask God to do good to him as well? 

 

Think about the story of the prodigal son.  When he came back to the father he asked only to be like one of the hired hands.  Surely the father would not want him as a son.  But what happened?  You know the story.  The father restored the son to full sonship with all of the privileges. 

 

The same is true of David.  Although he was a prodigal the Lord had forgiven him and restored to him the joy of his salvation.  He had restored to him his sonship and the privileges that accompany that.  And part of that sonship is to ask the Lord for His blessings.  So how can David do this and how can you and I do this as well?  What do we base our ability to ask God for anything on?  We base it on what God has revealed to us in Scripture.  Think about Abraham.  He is minding his own business and God shows up.  And what does the Lord promise Abraham?  Listen to Genesis 12:1-2.

1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives
And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;

 

The blessing of the Lord is according to His grace and His desires.  It is God’s desire to bless His people.  If you do a word study and find the two words together, bless you, in the first five books of the Bible it is used of God blessing His chosen and His chosen testifying of God’s promise of blessing over and over again.  David knew this and we need to know this as well.  God chooses to bless His people according to His good pleasure. 

 

But what about those of us in the New Covenant?  Does God tell us to ask Him as our Heavenly Father for what is needed and desired?  Of course He does.  We pray the Lord’s prayer each week and that is a series of petitions for some needful things.  But we also have John 14:13-14.  The Lord Jesus said:

13 "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

 

Understanding that the Lord chooses to bless His people and to grant them the desires of their heart we need to understand something very important this morning.  I want you to notice Psalm 51 verse 18 again and notice what David asks for. 

18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;

He asks that the Lord do good to the people of God and build up the walls of His dwelling place.  Notice what he does not ask for.  He does not ask for himself but for the people of God.  He says, “Do good to your people Lord.  Build up your dwelling place.  Do you see the difference in what people pray for today? 

 

Today people often pray for selfish desires and material possessions. They claim cars and houses and land and jewelry instead of the things the Lord desires.  We must be careful that our desires are in line with the Lord’s desires for us. 

 

Many commentators have understood that David is praying in verse 18 for the nation of Israel and the direct application of that for Christians is to pray for the building up of the body of Christ, the church.  Which I think is a great thing to ask the Lord for since it already in accordance with His will. 

 

The learned Dr. John Gill, as Spurgeon referred to him, said that we should pray for “an increase of its (the church) numbers, the bringing in the fullness of the Gentiles, the conversion of the Jews, and the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; the spread of the Gospel all over the world, the purity of Gospel doctrine, worship, and ordinances, the spirituality of religion, the power of godliness, and an abounding of brotherly love, and the like.”

 

But these prayers are offered after the Lord has saved us.  So thus far we have seen that:

Propitiation is all of grace because man’s sacrifices are not pleasing to God and God’s blessings are all of grace because they are according to His good pleasure. Third this morning we need to see that:

 

3.  Good works are all of grace because they will be done God’s way for God’s glory.

Let’s make sure we put this in context.  Go back to verse 16 and look at it with me.

16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

 

Now when we get to verse 19 there is a change.  Look at verse 19. 

19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

 

What happened between verse 16 and verse 19 to bring about such a change?  What happened was verse 17.  Look at it with me. 

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.  

 

David reminds us of the order of things.  Sacrifice does not proceed a broken and contrite heart.  Right sacrifices that are pleasing to God are what God has prescribed the way that God has prescribed them.  Sacrifices are to be offered as an expression of faith and love to God not as a way to secure the love of God. 

 

Let’s understand a very important Gospel truth this morning.  We love Him why?  Because He first loved us.  We serve Him because He first served us by dying on the cross for our sins.  We can’t serve God to earn His favor.  We can’t do good works to earn merits in Heaven so that God will somehow owe us anything.  What we do as Christians in service and sacrifice to our Lord is a result of what Christ has done for us and because our hearts have been changed so that we desire to serve the Lord. 

 

The Lord Jesus illustrated this in Luke 17:7-10.  Listen as I read.

7 "Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come immediately and sit down to eat'? 8 "But will he not say to him, 'Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink'? 9 "He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? 10 "So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.' "

 

These sacrifices are performed now with the right attitude.  Remember the Pharisee at the Temple praying to himself? Lord I thank you that I am not like other men…. He was seeking merit and favor from the Lord for what he had done he presumed in the service of the Lord. 

 

But the problem with him was that all that he did was selfish and self centered.  He was a self promoter and not a servant of the Lord.  He did not have a broken and contrite heart but a proud and puffed up heart. 

 

Here are the facts.  We are all unworthy slaves not fit to serve the Lord.  None of us measure up to what the Lord commands in His Word.  So it is by grace alone that we are able to serve the Lord in any capacity and we would do well to remember that the Lord owes us nothing for our service.  Our sacrifices to the Lord are meaningless if not done with the proper biblical understanding.  They would be like the sacrifices in verse 16 and not in verse 19. 

 

Look at verse 19 again.

19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

 

We obviously will not be offering any bulls on the alter today.  No one brought any lambs here to butcher and sacrifice.  So what are we as Christians to offer the Lord that will be a delight to Him? 

 

First we offer what He has ordained for us.  Listen to Ephesians 2:10. 

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Good works or sacrifices that bring glory to God and please Him are those which He has ordained for us.  So what has the Lord revealed to us?  Listen to Romans 12:1-2.

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 

 

So in the New Covenant we present ourselves as the offering to the Lord.  We are to be without spot and wrinkle.  We are to be holy and undefiled.  We are to be a living sacrifice and not a dead one.  We are to serve the Lord with gladness and do what He has ordained for us. 

 

So what has He ordained for us?  Let’s get a quick theological review from our series in Hebrews.  The way the Lord has set up the New Covenant we have a Great High Priest who is the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Old Covenant there were priests that served under the high priest.  They served in the Father’s house or the temple.  We now are the temple and we are New Covenant priests ordained to carry out specific tasks in the church. So what are our tasks? 

Turn with me to Hebrews 13 and we will see these quickly. 

I encourage you to go through the whole chapter but right now let’s just look at verses 12 through 17. (Expound on each one.) Verses 12 through 14 are the prerequisites to the New Covenant priesthood. 

12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

Verses 15 through 17 outline the duties. 

15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. 17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

 

All of this is by God’s grace and ultimately for God’s glory.  The whole Christian life is to be lived to the glory of God and by the grace of God.  We look to Christ for our help.

 

How are you living?  Is what you call your Christian life being lived to God’s glory or are you living to merit God’s favor? 

 

Let’s pray.

Biblical Repentance 10

All of Grace and All for the Glory of God

Psalm 51:16-19

Grace Fellowship Church

August 30, 2009

Series 5 Sermon 10

 

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy 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, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.  14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.  15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.  18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;
19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

 

Introduction

Pride is a destroyer.  It is the killer of all things good.  Spiritual pride leads to spiritual destruction.  1 Corinthians 10:12 says, 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.

James 4:6 says: "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."

So even after the Lord has shown us our sins, has granted us repentance and faith in Christ, we still have a great propensity to fall into the heinous sin of pride.  Even after we spend ten weeks in Psalm 51 and we look at how God initiates conviction of sin, grants repentance and faith in Christ, and is the power that enables us to walk in sanctification we all get kind of like the kid who rides his bicycle without training wheels for the first time and begins to look at his feet and runs into a tree. 

 

Or we become like Peter who has his eyes on Christ and begins to walk on the water and then starts noticing everything else around him and finds himself drowning.  It is Christ who pulls the drowning disciple from the water and it is Christ who carries us through this life.  

 

As we wrap up this series on Psalm 51 we have a final reminder of the grace of God in the salvation of sinners.  Some commentators feel this Psalm ends quite abruptly or that these verses may have been added by another person years after David penned the others.  But I don’t believe that is true at all. I think they miss the point.  They miss what the Prophet and the Psalmist David is teaching us sinners.  Remember verse 13?  Look at it. 

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways... 

 

Psalm 51 is one of the ways that David is teaching us the ways of God and has been used to bring sinners to repentance throughout the centuries.  And that is precisely what David is doing in verses 16-19.  He is teaching us the ways of God regarding the grace of God in salvation and sanctification. 

 

PNP

So from our text this morning I want you to see three final reminders that salvation and sanctification are all of grace and ultimately for the glory of God. 

1.  Propitiation is all of grace because man’s sacrifices are not pleasing to God. (16 & 17)

2.  God’s blessings are all of grace because they are according to His good pleasure. (18)

3.  Good works are all of grace because they will be done God’s way for God’s glory. (19)

 

Purpose

My purpose in preaching this passage is to show you and remind you that redemption is an act of God by the grace of God and for the glory of God.  Redeemed humans will receive the blessings of God in salvation but we will receive none of the glory.  We are recipients of God’s grace and in that we will bring God glory but we will be forever in awe of the glory of God in eternity.  So we might as well grow accustomed to that right now. 

 

RPNP

So look with me this morning at these three final reminders that salvation and sanctification are all of grace and ultimately for the glory of God. 

 

1.  Propitiation is all of grace because man’s sacrifices are not pleasing to God.

Notice with me verse 16. 

16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

Now I want you to keep in mind that David is in the middle of the Old Covenant sacrificial system.  The Old Covenant is a God ordained sacrificial system.  So what is David saying?  Is he saying that God is not pleased with this sacrificial system?  After all it is the Lord that instituted the sacrificial system very early on.  So it can’t be that.  Or is it that the two major sins that David committed had no sacrificial atonement in the Old Covenant?  It could be this.  The punishment for adultery and murder was death.  I said it could be this but I want you to notice verse 16 again.

16 For you will not delight in sacrifice,

David is not so much concerned about the mere letter of the law as he is the spirit of the Law.  The requirement of God was important to David but what was more important to him was that he knew that God should be delighted in him.  There is more in verse 16. 

or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

 

So I think what David is saying is that although God instituted the sacrificial system it is not mere sacrifices that God is looking for.  There is more to it than mere obedience.  What David shows us is that there is a heart issue.  Look at verse 17.

 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 

 

Now here is where most of the modern Christians will get off board.  But I want you to stay on board with me because this is important.  The sacrifices that are pleasing to God and in which He delights come from the heart.  A broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart will not be despised by the Lord.  Now modern people want to feel good all the time.  We don’t want to think about having a broken heart or a contrite or crushed heart.  That is painful.  And pain is bad.  Except in matters spiritual.  The problem is that we have a wrong view of the law and how the law is supposed to work.  We think of the law often like we think of our own justice system in our country.    

 

Think about it like this.  You are driving down Highway 49 and you are doing 70 MPH in a 55 MPH zone.  The officer has his radar on and you are clocked.  He pulls you over and writes you a ticket.  Of course you are upset.  Why today?  You get angry and you send in your money to pay the ticket.  You know your insurance is probably going up and if you have done this too often then you might lose your license.  The natural reaction to a traffic ticket by the typical American is anger.  Or they simply dismiss it, pay the fine and never think about it again. 

 

But I want you to think about it this morning.  There is the letter of the law to deal with and there is the spirit of the law.  The letter of the traffic law states that if you are caught exceeding the speed limit then an appropriate fine is given and if paid promptly that is the extent of the consequences. The law is there to keep traffic moving and to reduce accidents and the number of serious injuries from accidents.  Otherwise Highway 49 may look like a road heading into Baghdad during the height of the Gulf War.  That is the letter of the law.

 

But there is a spirit of the law as well.  Knowing that the law has been set up for our protection on the roads we should obey that law.  And when we do not obey that law we put all kinds of people’s lives in jeopardy.  All kinds of things could happen that could take someone’s life if we are speeding.  Plus the officer places his life in danger by having to get out of his vehicle to walk up to ours to write the ticket.  Instead of anger there should be some remorse.  That is the point of the fine.  The fine is expensive so that you will no longer speed and put others and your life in danger.  It is to cause you to think about what you have done and how you have broken the Law. 

 

Plus, if you drive over the speed limit as a Christian you are not only breaking the law of the land you are also breaking God’s Law.  We are called to obey and submit to those in authority over us and we have not done so.  The problem is that this is a symptom of a larger problem in our culture.  We think too much of ourselves and too little of offending God. 

 

We make sin out to be trivial and not really that offensive.  This is what takes place on a pretty consistent basis.  If you watch hardly any television at all this attitude is piped right into your living room. All kind of sin is made light of. 

 

But I hope none of you carry this attitude so far that you have no remorse for sin.  Let me say to you this morning that you can not atone for one single sin that you commit.  Not one.  You can not do enough good things even as a Christian to make up for the attitude you had this morning or yesterday against your wife, husband, mother, or father.  You are absolutely helpless in regards to paying for your own sins.  That is why hell is eternal and not temporary.  Sin against an eternal God has eternal consequences. 

 

David understood this full well.  He knew that he had sinned against God and no amount of sacrifice given to the Lord would atone for that sin.  He needed much more.  Sure it was true that there was no sacrifice for murder and adultery and thatno amount of sacrifice could atone for these sins that were worthy of death in the Old Covenant. 

 

The problem is that human nature gets this all wrong.  It is a total misunderstanding of the Law and the sacrifices.  What many of the Jews thought in the days of David and in other days was that they could sin and then just offer a sacrifice and everything would be just fine.  But that was not the point of the Old Covenant.  Listen to Galatians 2:16.

16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.

 

What David understood is what Paul explains.  No one can be justified by the Law.  This is why works based salvation is not true salvation.  This is why no matter how hard you try ultimately it is only God’s mercy and grace that can save us and not any so called good thing within us or good works that we can do.  Notice again what David says in verse 17.

 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 

Notice that the sacrifices that please God is a spirit that is broken and not proud.  It is not a spirit that has everything together.  It is not the Pharisee at the temple praying.  David’s heart is the same as the publican at the Temple praying.  His heart is broken.  It is contrite or repentant.  These are the sacrifices of God.  And verse 17 says that God will not despise this person. 

"GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."

Now I want you to also understand that this broken and contrite heart is not a meritorious work on the part of David or us.  This broken and contrite heart and spirit is a work of grace wrought by the Holy Spirit of God through the proclamation of the Word of God.  Remember it was Nathan that came to David.  It was the Word of God that convicted David and the Spirit of God that brought brokenness to David.  It was the conviction of  sin brought about by God that made David seek the mercy of God. 

 

Let me tell you the difference between the broken heart that God accepts and the proud heart that He despises.  The proud heart acts as if God owes him or her something.  The broken and contrite heart desires the mercy of God and His grace.  The repentant sinner knows that his or her repentance is not meritorious for salvation.  It is casting ourselves on the mercy of God and praying for His grace. 

 

This is the part we have such a difficult time with.  Often we think that we have done something in our salvation when we actually have not.  Some will say that we have repented.  We have believed.  These are the conditions for salvation but they are not works.  They are faith and faith is not a work.  Faith is the result of the grace of God poured out on a sinner.  In conviction of sin and the call to repentance we are left empty handed and without hope of self justification.  True conviction from the Holy Spirit leaves us like a beggar.  We have nothing.  We can offer nothing.  It is then and only then that we can look to Christ and Him alone for salvation. 

 

What we need to do is look at this passage through Gospel tinted glasses.  Remember this is in the context of repentance, justification, and sanctification.  If salvation is all of God’s grace then sanctification is by God’s grace and keeping us is by His grace.  I have said this before but it needs to be repeated.  Christ does not save us and leave us to ourselves.  In the New Covenant God has decreed that He will be merciful toward our iniquities and will remember our sins no more.  It is the broken and contrite heart that pleases the Lord.   It is the empty hand that the Lord fills.  Salvation is all of God’s grace because it will be all for His glory.   That is first this morning.  Second we need to see that:    

 

2.  God’s blessings are all of grace because they are according to His good pleasure.

Notice verse 18.

18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;
Keep in mind the order here.  God’s grace has brought about a broken and contrite heart in David.  God’s grace has produced salvation for the sinner.  And now the sinner has the audacity to ask God to do good to him as well? 

 

Think about the story of the prodigal son.  When he came back to the father he asked only to be like one of the hired hands.  Surely the father would not want him as a son.  But what happened?  You know the story.  The father restored the son to full sonship with all of the privileges. 

 

The same is true of David.  Although he was a prodigal the Lord had forgiven him and restored to him the joy of his salvation.  He had restored to him his sonship and the privileges that accompany that.  And part of that sonship is to ask the Lord for His blessings.  So how can David do this and how can you and I do this as well?  What do we base our ability to ask God for anything on?  We base it on what God has revealed to us in Scripture.  Think about Abraham.  He is minding his own business and God shows up.  And what does the Lord promise Abraham?  Listen to Genesis 12:1-2.

1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives
And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;

 

The blessing of the Lord is according to His grace and His desires.  It is God’s desire to bless His people.  If you do a word study and find the two words together, bless you, in the first five books of the Bible it is used of God blessing His chosen and His chosen testifying of God’s promise of blessing over and over again.  David knew this and we need to know this as well.  God chooses to bless His people according to His good pleasure. 

 

But what about those of us in the New Covenant?  Does God tell us to ask Him as our Heavenly Father for what is needed and desired?  Of course He does.  We pray the Lord’s prayer each week and that is a series of petitions for some needful things.  But we also have John 14:13-14.  The Lord Jesus said:

13 "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

 

Understanding that the Lord chooses to bless His people and to grant them the desires of their heart we need to understand something very important this morning.  I want you to notice Psalm 51 verse 18 again and notice what David asks for. 

18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;

He asks that the Lord do good to the people of God and build up the walls of His dwelling place.  Notice what he does not ask for.  He does not ask for himself but for the people of God.  He says, “Do good to your people Lord.  Build up your dwelling place.  Do you see the difference in what people pray for today? 

 

Today people often pray for selfish desires and material possessions. They claim cars and houses and land and jewelry instead of the things the Lord desires.  We must be careful that our desires are in line with the Lord’s desires for us. 

 

Many commentators have understood that David is praying in verse 18 for the nation of Israel and the direct application of that for Christians is to pray for the building up of the body of Christ, the church.  Which I think is a great thing to ask the Lord for since it already in accordance with His will. 

 

The learned Dr. John Gill, as Spurgeon referred to him, said that we should pray for “an increase of its (the church) numbers, the bringing in the fullness of the Gentiles, the conversion of the Jews, and the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; the spread of the Gospel all over the world, the purity of Gospel doctrine, worship, and ordinances, the spirituality of religion, the power of godliness, and an abounding of brotherly love, and the like.”

 

But these prayers are offered after the Lord has saved us.  So thus far we have seen that:

Propitiation is all of grace because man’s sacrifices are not pleasing to God and God’s blessings are all of grace because they are according to His good pleasure. Third this morning we need to see that:

 

3.  Good works are all of grace because they will be done God’s way for God’s glory.

Let’s make sure we put this in context.  Go back to verse 16 and look at it with me.

16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

 

Now when we get to verse 19 there is a change.  Look at verse 19. 

19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

 

What happened between verse 16 and verse 19 to bring about such a change?  What happened was verse 17.  Look at it with me. 

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.  

 

David reminds us of the order of things.  Sacrifice does not proceed a broken and contrite heart.  Right sacrifices that are pleasing to God are what God has prescribed the way that God has prescribed them.  Sacrifices are to be offered as an expression of faith and love to God not as a way to secure the love of God. 

 

Let’s understand a very important Gospel truth this morning.  We love Him why?  Because He first loved us.  We serve Him because He first served us by dying on the cross for our sins.  We can’t serve God to earn His favor.  We can’t do good works to earn merits in Heaven so that God will somehow owe us anything.  What we do as Christians in service and sacrifice to our Lord is a result of what Christ has done for us and because our hearts have been changed so that we desire to serve the Lord. 

 

The Lord Jesus illustrated this in Luke 17:7-10.  Listen as I read.

7 "Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come immediately and sit down to eat'? 8 "But will he not say to him, 'Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink'? 9 "He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? 10 "So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.' "

 

These sacrifices are performed now with the right attitude.  Remember the Pharisee at the Temple praying to himself? Lord I thank you that I am not like other men…. He was seeking merit and favor from the Lord for what he had done he presumed in the service of the Lord. 

 

But the problem with him was that all that he did was selfish and self centered.  He was a self promoter and not a servant of the Lord.  He did not have a broken and contrite heart but a proud and puffed up heart. 

 

Here are the facts.  We are all unworthy slaves not fit to serve the Lord.  None of us measure up to what the Lord commands in His Word.  So it is by grace alone that we are able to serve the Lord in any capacity and we would do well to remember that the Lord owes us nothing for our service.  Our sacrifices to the Lord are meaningless if not done with the proper biblical understanding.  They would be like the sacrifices in verse 16 and not in verse 19. 

 

Look at verse 19 again.

19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

 

We obviously will not be offering any bulls on the alter today.  No one brought any lambs here to butcher and sacrifice.  So what are we as Christians to offer the Lord that will be a delight to Him? 

 

First we offer what He has ordained for us.  Listen to Ephesians 2:10. 

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Good works or sacrifices that bring glory to God and please Him are those which He has ordained for us.  So what has the Lord revealed to us?  Listen to Romans 12:1-2.

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 

 

So in the New Covenant we present ourselves as the offering to the Lord.  We are to be without spot and wrinkle.  We are to be holy and undefiled.  We are to be a living sacrifice and not a dead one.  We are to serve the Lord with gladness and do what He has ordained for us. 

 

So what has He ordained for us?  Let’s get a quick theological review from our series in Hebrews.  The way the Lord has set up the New Covenant we have a Great High Priest who is the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Old Covenant there were priests that served under the high priest.  They served in the Father’s house or the temple.  We now are the temple and we are New Covenant priests ordained to carry out specific tasks in the church. So what are our tasks? 

Turn with me to Hebrews 13 and we will see these quickly. 

I encourage you to go through the whole chapter but right now let’s just look at verses 12 through 17. (Expound on each one.) Verses 12 through 14 are the prerequisites to the New Covenant priesthood. 

12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

Verses 15 through 17 outline the duties. 

15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. 17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

 

All of this is by God’s grace and ultimately for God’s glory.  The whole Christian life is to be lived to the glory of God and by the grace of God.  We look to Christ for our help.

 

How are you living?  Is what you call your Christian life being lived to God’s glory or are you living to merit God’s favor? 

 

Let’s pray.

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