Psalm 51-How Does the Kingdom Grow?

Gallery February 27, 1994 David

Dancing with Broken Bones-A Series on Psalm 51-How Does the Kingdom Grow?
February 27, 1994	Sermon by DRW	Passage Psalm 51.10-12

How Does the Kingdom Grow?

After we have turned back to God, after we have repented of our deeds and our ways; when the verbal confession is made complete, we must be about the King’s business. If we return to our former ways we will do our former deeds. We must finalize our verbal confession with the willingness and steadfastness in the Holy Spirit which we spoke of last week; this means, doing the work of God—fulfilling our purpose on earth. Sometimes this obedience is difficult to follow through with because we have been in that rut for so long we naturally tend that way. This is why our next series of sermons will deal with the disciplines of a godly life. Things we can and should do to maintain our purity and not fall back into the same old rut. Today we will look into two areas where we need to focus our attention. Once repentance is made we must seek first His kingdom in quantity and quality; that is, evangelism and discipleship. This is what David said when in verse 13 he writes, “Then.” Let us look at this as we answer: “I have repented and turned from my former ways, what then?” That is, now that I am a disciple of God, what do I need to do?

To put it another way, “What is my purpose in life?” If this question were asked in polite company many different answers would ensue. However, asked late at night over a cup of coffee in a small diner on the outskirts of a town called Lonesome and the truth will come like a piercing arrow. People find it increasingly difficult to find goals and objectives, purpose, worthy of the high calling that God has created in each person, that will sustain them through the heaviness of life and the reality of death. Dostoevski once wrote: “Man’s whole business is to prove that he is a man and not a cog-wheel.. . .” Or as Meatloaf once wrote: “I’m a man! I am not a number.”

To many people, life leaves a bad taste in their mouth. Most people would prefer to be gone (no where in particular, just gone) than have to hear the faint whispers telling them life is merely a cruel joke. This is why it is important for us to listen to David on this point: He was a man who could cry out: Come taste the goodness of the Lord! God doesn’t leave a bad taste. What does David tell us to do in light of the goodness of our God, in light of the high calling of God. After everything has been said and done: “Did you show transgressors God’s way? Did you show sinners how to get back to God?” will be asked of us. David knew that any man or woman or child that wanted to live life with purpose, with the taste of victory, with God’s stamp of approval, had to live a life that called people to God in salvation and discipleship.

For David this was a large step to consider. For us it is as-well. For David to come to the point of verse 13 is dramatic. He needed to admit a lot about himself, as we have seen in the first part of Psalm 51. He had to admit that God is Lord, and not King David. We must admit that too. Who is the master of your life? Are J-E-S-U-S the letters of His name or is it M-E? “David had learned that among all challengers, God alone was a sufficient master. This earthly king no longer needed to dazzle men with his own claims, but now longed for them to know the heavenly King whose grace had cleansed him” (91). This is where God calls us and this is where our text brings us.

1. Who is your Master?

1. It is not a question of if there will be a master; Matthew 6.24 tells us it is a given.

2. A purposeful life is not in what you conquer but really in who you are being mastered or conquered by

1. the test of a worthy goal is whether it is a portal to another worthy goal or a dead end

1. the astronaut who finished his mission only to ask, now what

2. Rockefeller wanting just a little more

2. scientists tend to be mastered by goals and objectives that are worthy to some degree

1. they strive to find new and exciting things and end up making and re-making history

1. Ray (Ira’s dad) committed suicide

2. outside of Christ even the noblest goals are fleeting

2. Joe Muslin

1. Smithsonian, you’ll see some of his work

2. His greatest work though

1. SBBC High school group of the 70’s

2. SBBC adult group of the 90’s

3. Is it possible for us as Christians to have that?

Is it possible to have a goal that reaches out from beyond limits, beyond space and time, drawing us and fulfilling us? Is it possible to have a sense of purpose and meaning, independent of circumstances and levels of achievement, that satisfies us completely? (93)

1. The hint of the infinite in Christ’s voice captured the heart and attention of many people

1. the eternal living water (John 4.10-14)

2. the eternal bread of life (John 6.35)

3. the eternal heavenly treasure (Matthew 19.21)

4. the eternal fruit of being fishers of men (Matthew 4.19)

2. In light of the infinite, the eternal words of Jesus,

1. how tragic that many Christians find themselves mastered by the urgent, the small.

2. we read, study, attend church services and yet nothing tastes as good as David said it should, “good,” for we are mastered by the wrong lord.

If God’s people fail to find an overall principle for integrating every segment of life, they will find themselves fragmented over a host of secular and badly diluted Christian agendas (93).

3. Christ is calling us to the heroic

1. France (WW II)

1. struggled against the Nazi regime

1. average people took incredible risks to fight a terrible evil

2. little old ladies -> pickpockets

3. salesmen and chefs -> explosive experts

2. not a part time affair, something done on the side but something which mastered and transformed them

2. God has called us to be like them, heroic (Matthew 6.33)

1. throwing your entire life into His kingdom work is an incredible risk in fighting the terrible foe

1. you will address your sin (as David did), your friendships, your hobbies, your career, your failures, your ambitions, your life in light of the Kingdom

2. you will address poverty, hunger, pollution

As Elton Trueblood said in The Company of the Committed:

A Christian is a person who confesses that, amidst the manifold and confusing voices heard in the world, there is one Voice which supremely wins his full assent, uniting all his powers, intellectual and emotional, into a single pattern of self-giving. That voice is Jesus Christ. . . . He believes in Him with all his heart and strength and mind. Christ appears to the Christian as the one stable point or fulcrum in all the relativities of history. Once the Christian has made this primary commitment he still has perplexities, but he begins to know the joy of being used for a might purpose by which his little life is dignified [and, I add, made heroic] (23).

2. The heroic is allowing God’s life to be manifest through you.

1. An interesting aspect of all history is how people have sought and still seek after a hero.

1. Israel’s literature seeks after the ultimate hero, is written of heroes by heroes

2. Greek mythology is crowded with the heroic.

2. those who have studied sociology or anthropology understand the concept of the heroic is embodied in Germany’s Übermann, or as he is called here, “Superman”.

* A god-like person with the possibility of failure (for superman it was kryptonite, some say it was also Lois Lane)

3. When we are mastered by the King of kings and Lord of lords we are heroic.

1. God can never be a hero, He would never have the chance of failure.

2. Man without God could never be heroic, he’d fail all the time.

3. It is only the one who is wrapped in God’s calling that can be truly called heroic

1. his or her life will never grow stale, nor dull because their eyes are always on Jesus

2. the ultimate satisfaction and purpose in life is knowing that in Jesus I have been called and equipped for the heroic

We were made for more exquisite things than trying to fill our empty days with our own thunder. But we must all choose. Will I go on tinkering on my own agenda and my own kingdom, which will pass away when I do? Or will I tie my life and destiny to His life, His cause, His Kingdom? Only Christ offers the calling whereby we can harness our lives to a source of purpose that lasts forever (96).

Seeking first His Kingdom restores the fervor of the heroic in our lives, knowing we must do the work of God that only a child of His could do. God’s children who follow after Him are always a hero. And a hero always has purpose, life and vigor when he is pursuing the Voice of his Master.

What does that voice cry for us to do?

2. Discipleship

Allow me to illustrate the heroic life that God has called us to. A life of meaning and purpose. What would this life look like? When we bag the old ways and do the God ways, what would we look like? Well, manifesting God to the world. To put it another way, it is essentially evangelism and discipleship.

Let me tell you a story, a tragedy, after the story you will see what is not heroic and understand what God has called us to. It is the story told by Oz. Not “the wonderful wizard of” but one of the first American missionaries to Taiwan. He recounts a true story that went something like this:

1. When China was overrun by Communism many fled to Taiwan

2. Shantytowns were built overnight

1. overcrowding

2. huts built to the very edge of the street

3. Oz feared driving down these streets for he thought he’d run over a child at play

4. he drove by one day

1. saw a boy hit by a truck, dead

2. heard a woman wailing, running to the boy

1. fell on him

2. picked him up sobbing

3. then strangely smiling

3. heard her say, Oh, its all right, it’s not mine.”

Not too heroic, not the Kingdom life, not purposeful. If it were so she would have continued to mourn and weep with the boys mother instead of depersonalizing (“it”) and walking away. We have all done this in one way or another, haven’t we?

What would a disciple of Jesus, one who has tasted and seen that the Lord is good, one who is mastered by Jesus, look like?

2. A concern for all that grows from knowing God

1. we need to know what is going on around us politically, spiritually, economically, globally

2. Did you read the article Joe gave called Kairos. It is interesting and illuminating reading of how God is in the rest of the world.

3. A dreamer of God’s dreams

1. when we see the world through God’s eyes He will provide dreams of how we can participate in His work

1. World Impact (large task only God could do)

2. God never calls us to do things that we could do without Him for it wouldn’t be heroic

And what about you? Your dream should raise important questions in your mind. How will this dream stretch you to trust God in a greater way? Will it galvanize other Christians into a living force for God’s Kingdom? Will it reveal Christ to lost men? Will it help to reverse the fragmentation sin has caused at every level of human existence? (103) If it will, then follow that dream

4. A sacrifice for God not

1. school, work, etc

2. Christian growth costs in ultimate figures. Some tough questions must be stared down if we want to mature God’s way rather than our own. What will it take to solidify your spiritual disciplines? How can you sharpen your spiritual gifts? Will it mean going to school or taking up correspondence study? Are you prepared to view aggravation and pain, both past and present, as finishing tools? What legitimate pursuits and pleasures may have to be foregone in making any of the above happen? Are you willing to work to maintain the primary relationships (God, spouse, kids) during all this? (105). It is indeed a sacrifice.

5. An embracing of the pain of others, even strangers

1. we have become dulled to the needs around us

2. I know a man who reaches out to the homeless despite the pains it cost him

6. A call to the underground, the uncommon way

1. Every area of a Christian’s life, every thought and action, must be evaluated in light of whether it helps or hinders us in fighting for God’s Kingdom. It includes our spare time, the substance of our daydreams, professional advancement, and our relationships with other people (106).

2. Anything that interferes with our fighting for the Kingdom, no matter how innocuous or respectable it may seem, must go (107).

7. A daily reminding of our calling

1. we have all been called

2. we must take orders from God and not give them

3. we are necessary and important

3. Evangelism

1. Churches grow by evangelism and multiply by discipleship

1. Evangelism must happen

1. training is good but incomplete (there are so many Christians trained but don’t witness)

2. motivation is needed

When you’ve been where David has been, the truth about God’s forgiveness doesn’t have to be yanked from your throat like tonsils. It explodes. . . . [it] motivates (112).

2. show them they are sinners (John 16.8-9)

3. show them God wants to take care of that (2 Corinthians 5.17)

1. He works it

2. we live it

2. How?

1. develop a healthy fear of God not man

1. cure for cancer

2. cure for sin

2. develop compassion (as we are concerned our compassion grows)

1. not a four step approach that is memorized, but people to talk with

2. not an argument to be won, but one who needs to be restored

3. realize God wants back what’s His

3. Joy follows

While the New Testament commands the church to evangelize, it doesn’t do so in a negative, critical way. The early Christians never seemed to think of anything else to do with their faith but to give it away. It was the natural overflow of loving Jesus (119)

These men did not spread their message because it was advisable for them to do so, nor because it was the socially responsible thing for them to do. . . . They did it because of the overwhelming experience of the love of God which they had received through Jesus Christ. The discovery that the ultimate force in the universe was Love . . . had an effect on those who believed it which nothing could remove. . . . Conversion and joy are closely related in the Acts of the Apostles, and it remained a characteristics thing about the early Christians which attracted others into their company. Their new faith did not make them miserable. Often outward circumstances were unpleasant enough, but that could not rob them of the joy which was their Christian birthright (Green, 1970).

2. People in Christ who are fulfilling His purpose in life do not have dead eyes. I remember hearing some people discussing this the other day . . . (Robert Lee)

CONCLUSION

One more story to illustrate the purposeful, heroic life that God has called us to.

Arlie and Tommy

2. Arlie poor, Tommy rich

4. orange peels and orange slices

6. teacher saw

8. Christmas time, snow and teacher coming with a bagful of toys and oranges.

10. Arlie peeled and ate the peels, teacher showed him the slice and broke one open

12. Juice squirted, laughter rose, taste buds swelled, air filled with orange perfume

14. tasted and saw it was good

16. we are heroic when we take the gospel that is in our lives and show how fine it tastes to those who have only tasted the rind of this life

More than a few of us have asked that question: “Why am I here, what’s my purpose?”

David reminds us: it is to tell others of God and bring them closer to Him. This is seen in concern and compassion. It is heroic. It is dreaming God’s dream, doing God’s will. It is even failing and growing despite it.

It is saying: Hey, above all else I want to be a disciple, one who repents and turns to God and then desires to tell others of God’s goodness.

If you are interested in being discipled of being trained up in the godly values of life, to understand the basics and live them. I will ask you to fill out this sheet of paper and turn it in as the ushers pick them up. This is not a commitment to be discipled but a commitment to talk with me about what we would do if you decided to follow through with God’s call to discipleship.

Name: ________________________ Date: _____/_____/_____

□ Yes, I am interested in learning about my God and my faith. I am available to talk with you on _____________ about a study.

□ I am currently being discipled by _______________.

□ I am not interested at the moment, but will talk with you when I am.

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Old Testament, Psalms, Sermons

Psalm 51-I’m Not a Baboon, I’m a Child of God!

Gallery February 20, 1994 David

Dancing with Broken Bones-A Series on Psalm 51-I’m Not a Baboon, I’m a Child of God!
February 20, 1994	Sermon by DRW	Passage Psalm 51.10-12

Introduction

Some of us feel like we have been trapped on a slot car set, like the one Pete got for his roommate—on the surface it appears as though we are going somewhere in life but underneath we know that scenery looks strangely familiar. Our lives can become like that—falling over the same sin, the same thing, we begin to see the rut our lives are beginning to cut, we watch as that rut becomes our lifestyle—its then we feel the paralysis, the erosion of life and joy,

At this point in our life is where we must make a choice: to continue in the rut, never to change or to allow God to change us and build upon that devastated past a new foundation in Jesus.

1. We need to realize that we are desperate without God working within our lives.

1. He has pardoned us from our sin, made us clean; but David know that wasn’t enough.

1. We need a new heart.

2. David know nothing less would do

2. Today we have the technology to transplant hearts that will keep us alive for a few more years

1. its usually the heart from a baboon

2. but, I’m not a baboon, neither was David.

3. David knew that what he needed was a new pure heart that could allow him

1. not to re-enter his old passionate ways of sin

2. but into the new passion of his God

2. David got down to business.

1. He became like Christ.

1. In Luke we read that Jesus was on His final journey to Jerusalem and His death not with a hollow spirit but one with passion and determination:

2. He set His eyes to Jerusalem.

2. He was like Paul.

1. There is a biography of Paul called “The Man of Steel”, for he was determined to pursue God’s righteousness alone (Philippians 3)

2. and refused to be satisfied with the status quo.

We need these: Are you desperate for purity, do you thirst after it? Are you ready to get busy pursuing it?

Today, we will look at the seven consequences of sin and God’s way for us to overcome the sin in our life (we must realize that the consequences are still ours except by God’s grace He removes them).

2. The Seven Consequences of Sin (7-12)

1. Defilement (7)

1. contamination

1. levitical law requires those contaminated be withdrawn from the city

2. as the leper, they couldn’t associate with clean people

3. Jesus offers this in Matthew 8.1ff

2. possible exclusion from worship (11)

2. Deafness (8)

1. one writer puts it this way:

He had become deaf to the voice of God, deaf to all sounds of joy. Once he had been able to take his harp and make the halls of his palace ring with joy and gladness. No more! (Phillips, 91)

2. illustration of me and my guitar (I play when I am in fellowship with God)

3. He had no way to regain that song except in restoration of fellowship with God that is found in

1. repentance

2. and forgiveness

3. Disgrace (9)

1. There is always shame and disgrace associated with sin

* the criminal brought to the courthouse will cover his face

2. David’s sense of disgrace went far deeper than that. He was not just ashamed of what man might thing; he was ashamed that he had been seen by God (Phillips, 92).

1. 1 John 3.1-3

2. Like Jonah, he wanted to run and hide; but like Jonah, he knew he couldn’t

4. Damage (10)

1. barah

1. Genesis 1.1

2. to create absolutely, supernaturally, to make something out of nothing. David wanted a new heart. He did not just want to have the old one changed. If he was to be kept from sinning in the future, a radical work needed to be done in his soul. As Jesus would later put it to Nicodemus, he needed to be born again, to be recreated. The word bara implies all that. The word describes the creative activity of God which brings something out of nothing. It was not just restoration David wanted, he wanted regeneration. He wanted a new, clean heart (Phillips, 92).

2. David knew that a pardon was good but not complete. He needed the radical change that God would bring through Jesus Christ or else his future would be a mere repetition of the past.

5. Doom (11)

1. David had seen Saul become the tormented victim of an evil spirit. David was afraid that this might happen to him.

2. The Holy Spirit

1. The OT shows us that the Holy Spirit set upon people and left after the work was completed or sin had interfered.

2. The NT shows us that the Holy Spirit has been given to indwell permanently God’s people (John 14.16-17)

3. Being cast away from His presence

1. a true consequence of sin is not being allowed into God’s throne room because of the unrepentant, unconfessed sin

2. today this is visually seen in Matthew 18 and the loss of fellowship with God’s Body

6. Depression (12a)

1. Much of the depression in the lives of Christians today is caused by sin. It may be flagrant sin, hidden away somewhere in the past, gnawing away at the conscience. It may be something spitefully said, some fit of temper indulged, or some lie told. Sin causes depression (Phillips, 93).

2. Much freedom is gained through confession to God of these sins.

1. John Gibson’s song that says: “He’s the only free psychiatrist, that is known throughout the land.”

2. Cast your cares upon Him, for He cares for you (1 Peter 5)

3. Today, we can’t lose our salvation but we certainly can lose the joy of our salvation and this is a cause for depression and rejection among Christians

* willful, unconfessed sin

7. Defeat (12b)

1. the sin-repent-sin cycle had to be broken

1. remember the slot car life we tend to feed

2. the only way out is Jesus

2. This requires perseverance and willingness to allow God to work in and through us.

Do you see the desperate strait the consequences of sin bring our way? This would be our lot if God didn’t do something about it. He did, He gave those who believe in Him a new heart.

3. A New Heart (10-12)

These three verses are verses of intense emotion. Verses that tell us a little bit about the new heart we received when we accepted the love of God in Christ Jesus. It is not the heart of a baboon but of a loving God.

This new heart David asks for is promised to God’s people in Ezekiel 11.19 and 36.26.

I like what Spurgeon had to say about verse 10:

What! has sin so destroyed us that the Creator must be called in again? What ruin then doth evil work among mankind! Create in me. I, in my outward fabric, still exist; but I am empty, desert, void. Come, then, and let Thy power be seen in a new creation within my old fallen self. Thou didst make a man in the world at first; Lord, make a new man in me.

In the seventh verse he asked to be clean; now he seeks a heart suitable to that cleanliness; but he does not say, “Make my old heart clean”; he is too experienced in the hopelessness of the old nature. He would have the old man buried as a dead thing, and a new creation brought in to fill its place (240).

Jesus death, burial, and resurrection, what we commonly summarize in the word “blood”, granted us the promise of Ezekiel and the desire of David’s heart. He doesn’t give us a transformation but a totally new creation (2 Corinthians 5.17).

Why? Ezekiel 11.20 and 36.27 tell us to enable us to follow Him, to get us out of the rut and into God. Romans 1.16 tells us the Gospel, our salvation, is His power for our lives. Philippians 2.12-13 tells us it is God who works in us to do His work through us. It was done to give us a single mind to follow Jesus (Matthew 6.33).

This new heart He has given us is characterized by three manifestations:

1. A Steadfast Spirit (10)

1. this is to persevere through life

1. Romans 5.3-4

2. James 1.2-4

3. perseverance is one reason Paul was Paul, Martin Luther was Martin Luther, and Billy Graham is Billy Graham

2. not a burning out but a shining forth

1. Dunker Days of Glory, Seasons of Night

2. Philippians 3.14-16

3. One writer comments on this:

Blessed is the person who wants growth so badly that he refuses to shrink from the process that produces it. David wanted grace that could not only weather fierce storms but also bring stability into a life tossed with guilt, regrets, and fear of discovery. Sin fractures our ability to last, to resist the beetles that chew on our lives through unending petty aggravations and mundane routine. Then, when the pressures intensify, the beams of our soul no longer stand the strain. We collapse. That’s why David coveted a steadfast spirit more than gold (Swartz, 1990).

4. The result of this is the eagle who is able to soar above the gales that blow because he used them to bring him above them.

2. The Indwelling Holy Spirit (11)

1. A scary truth is we know more about the Holy Spirit today than David ever did, but we seldom hear this intense cry from our mouths.

Perhaps we know more truth about the Spirit’s working, but David might have known more about the reality of His power. In quiet moments, he felt the loss and grieved over the alienation and blindness covering him like a shroud. Sadly, we often do not. Many times we are so confident of the indwelling presence of the Spirit, which cannot be taken from true Christians, that we forget that the Holy Spirit can be held back by our failure to yield to His guidance (Swartz, 1990).

2. We are to yield to the Spirit of God by being obedient in what the Word of God has commanded us and therein giving glory to God if we don’t we grieve the Holy Spirit.

The evidence is that He is regretfully compelled to withdraw His gracious influence and working, and His grief is reflected in the gloom and heaviness of the estranged heart (Sanders, 1970).

3. The life of the new heart manifests the gifts and the workings of the Holy Spirit to the glory of Christ Jesus.

3. A Willing Spirit (12)

1. Too often today we would rather surrender to God on our own terms rather than His

1. the WW II movie where the tattered army tells its victors that they will surrender on their terms

1. “We have come to negotiate the terms of surrender.”

2. “You will surrender unconditionally, and here are the terms . . .”

2. One writer states:

That’s so much like us isn’t it? Modern man demands the right to dicker, barter, or negotiate with God, who demands unconditional surrender. David sought a willing, renewed spirit. Knowing that a guilty man has nothing to negotiate with, David longed for the kind of perpetual inner kneeling that would receive mercy gratefully and render obedience ungrudgingly (Swartz, 85).

2. The evidence of a willing spirit? obedience to God seen through obedience at:

1. home (Ephesians 6)

2. school (2 Timothy 2.15)

3. everywhere we need to show unconditional obedience to the One who seeks the best for our souls.

If this is our life, steadfast, yielded and obedient we will become a beautiful tapestry for God where He will receive glory for our new heart; if not we will act like we have a baboon’s heart within us and not give glory to God but look foolish in His sight.

We have been given a new heart. This new heart is changing us daily from one glory to God to the next (2 Corinthians 3.18; 4.16-18).

Is this you, even in the consequences of your sin, do you hold steadfast, allowing God’s Spirit to work in you, and willingly giving your all to follow Him? He will take these people to new heights in victory, as the eagle soars, and to new heights in blessings for these are them that seek after Him.

During these next few moments, take the time to reflect on the condition of your heart. Do you lack these things, ask God to restore them to you. If there is sin that blocks you, confess it and repent of it. After you have spent a moment in prayer for yourself turn to your neighbours and pray for them.

Father,

We thank You for the new creation that we are in Your Son Jesus Christ. We ask now that we will have His character renewed in us. We pray that we will give you the glory for the work You do in our lives. We pray Father that we may see Your Spirit at work within us changing us daily. Be glorified now in Your Bride, Your Body. Amen.

Please Stand:

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Old Testament, Psalms, Sermons

Psalm 51-Snap! Crackle! Pop!

Gallery February 13, 1994 David

Dancing with Broken Bones-A Series on Psalm 51-Snap! Crackle! Pop!
February 13, 1994	Sermon by DRW	Passage Psalm 51.6-9

Psalm 51.6-9

Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.

Could you hear David’s remorse in these words. He couldn’t even hear joy or gladness anymore. It was far removed from him. He couldn’t hear the sound of song that belonged to the dance he once did. His longing was to be able to dance, even with broken bones, to the music that resounded with God’s joy and gladness.

We already know what happened with David. He sinned, like we do. He lived a time with the knowledge of that unconfessed sin, like we do. He felt totally demoralized by that sin, like we do. He knew that God was his answer, like we do. Yet, God had to break him to bring him back home, like he has done to some of us here and will do as long as we continue in our sin.

Today I want to look briefly at the how and why of broken bones and how we can dance again with them.

Father, this room has now become our place of worship of You as Your local body. We ask that You would cleanse us from our sins, to break our bones if You must, and to allow us to have a closer intimacy with You today; closer than we have ever had. Cause us to come. Amen.

OUTLINE

I. Breaking of Bones (8)

Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have broken dance.

A. Why?

1. We miss the little ways the Holy Spirit prods us

2. If we are not willing to turn from our sin and allow God to heal the cause, then He will get our attention

* David reminds us of this in his other account in Psalm 32.3-5

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 sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah

Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”–and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

B. How?

1. Through confrontation

a. Nathan (2 Samuel 12.1-24)

The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.'” Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born to you will die.” After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground. The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them. On the seventh day the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, we spoke to David but he would not listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.” David noticed that his servants were whispering among themselves and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.” Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate. His servants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!” He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him; and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah (Jedidiah means loved by the Lord).

We desperately need people like Nathan to keep us in line with God’s Word and will; to tell us the truth even when it hurts. Today we believe that if we love someone we will not tell them things that might hurt their feelings. But the testimonies of Jesus dealing with the Pharisees tells us that their is something more important than hurt feelings at stake, and that is the purity of the church!

2. Present life

1. I had a pastor who was confronted in his earlier ministry by his senior pastor

1. “when will you quit playing and except the Lord?”

2. Ouch

2. The young preacher in the south

1. Was you called or did you just run?

2. Ouch

3. The one who confronts must be broken on the wheel of many fears before he confronts:

1. he or she must ask

1. Is this the only way of dealing with the situation?

2. Am I the right person to confront them?

3. Who am I to do this?

4. Are my hands clean in this?

5. Can I handle it if he doesn’t listen?

2. the feelings happening

1. look for any other alternatives

2. don’t look away

* too many people do

3. only option: confront

2. In regret over past opportunities not taken

1. Illustration of Elvis Presley who continually returned to Gospel out of guilt or frustration

2. What of us?

1. Avoidance, dropping out to only come back periodically as Presley did

2. Pseudo-endurance,

1. regular attenders who have given up

2. actual worship is gone

1. they mumble the words

2. they are constantly reminder by the Holy Spirit of where they went wrong (or that they went wrong)

3. Repentance heals

3. leaders

* lead to lead not to minister

3. The way back?

1. Go back to the point of disobedience

2. confess your sin

3. confess why you did it (the motivation)

1. selfish

2. pride

4. The result of confrontation?

1. peace with God

2. the joy of His salvation returned

2. Broken Bones (6)

Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

1. What causes this?

1. Temptation, the striptease of sin seduces and we follow, like a pied piper, what began as a striptease becomes spiritual rape.

1. it calls from a shallow grave with separation from God in mind

1. it is gradual

2. it is draining

3. it is debilitating

4. it cheats us of qualities of soul and character

2. it can only be regained through repentance

2. Compartmentalization of living

Look, it’s my life. As long as it doesn’t overflow into other areas of my life I will follow Him

1. compromise of integrity

1. the end never justifies the means

1. God may not be necessarily be pleased with visible results

* He looks on the heart

2. I’m as good as anyone else

The standard for our principles should not be the world, nor even the Christian community.

It must be the Word of God.

When God’s Word is abandoned

our sense of His will is numbed and we succumb to what may be called a sin binge.

3. loss of spiritual zeal and integrity

1. John 8

1. Jesus professes the truth

2. He basis the entire authenticity of His ministry not on the results of His ministry, but on the integrity of His character.

2. When our integrity is shot, the message of the Gospel is strangely muted.

Integrity means being willing to stand straight when standing straight isn’t popular.

It holds to the truth even when crowds are not around,

and delights in the playing to the audience of God alone.

2. judging ourselves against the wrong standard

1. others

2. not God

3. producing

1. loss of zeal

2. loss of integrity

3. loss of joy

2. Temptation is a dangerous thing

1. illustration of the rattlesnake with the head chopped

2. we may be dead to sin, but its bite is still powerful and deadly

3. Dancing with Broken Bones (7-9)

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have broken dance.

Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.

1. Intense

1. not an emotional icebreaker

1. it’s not wanting to feel good

1. too many of us have settled for emotions that leave and come as quickly as the moment that carried it

2. to be honest, it does feel good and does make me feel better, but it is not right

3. to be honest, we all need something to cling to, to look forward to, something to hang our hat on but it shouldn’t be emotions it should be:

2. wanting Jesus more than the emotions

1. it is the willingness to allow Him to be Lord at all times

1. in the light

2. in the dark (Isaiah 59.10-12)

2. it is telling Him that the joy of His salvation is what we desire

1. that which lasts

2. that which is not fleeting

2. the pounding of dirty socks continually against a jagged rock to cleanse it

1. it works fine on socks

2. but is hard on the human soul

3. it asks us to be whiter than snow (snow has a tiny speck of dirt at its center)

1. a leper is white, we must be whiter

Leviticus 13.3 The priest is to examine the sore on his skin, and if the hair in the sore has turned white and the sore appears to be more than skin deep, it is an infectious skin disease. When the priest examines him, he shall pronounce him ceremonially unclean.

2 Kings 5.27 Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever.” Then Gehazi went from Elisha’s presence and he was leprous, as white as snow.

2. snow is white, we must be whiter, pure but we must be purer

Isaiah 1.18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

2. Intimate

1. The Holy Spirit and Broken Bones

1. He convicts of sin (He is the bone breaker) [John 16.8]

1. The book of Micah has an interesting phrase for the Lord as He comes to take His people to Himself.

* He is called the Breaker, that is, one who comes forth destroying all that doesn’t belong.

2. The Holy Spirit is the One who indwells us (John 14.16-17)

1. He is also the One who reveals and testifies Christ to us and through us.

2. None of these are options. They come in the package we call salvation.

2. He can never peacefully co-exist with sin

1. He will break our bones to bring us back into fellowship with God (1 John 1)

2. He will drive us back to Him

3. A note on guilt

1. the Holy Spirit’s guilt

1. the pain of His breaking is specific and sharp

2. drawing us to the Great Physician

1. reconciliation

2. confession

2. Satan’s guilt

1. the pain of his breaking is ambiguous and mocking

1. tempts

2. accuses

2. drawing us away from God

2. The Joy of God amidst Suffering

1. Joy is not tied to circumstances but to God

1. we will never be able to freely experience joy until we have willingly let go of what the world has to offer and come to Jesus (Matthew 6.33)

2. Joy is the natural overflow of a life in communion with God

3. It can never be shaken, except in the disruption of fellowship with God (that is, the presence of sin)

2. Abba! Father!

1. Most of us know this verse just well enough to take it for granted.

1. We think the world of God as He gets to know us

2. We miss the remarkable truth of it: He wants us to get to know Him

2. God tells us to call Him Abba! Father! because He is and He wants us to truly become intimate with Him

We can call Him Abba and Father because He is. We can rejoice in Him, even in pain and suffering, because He cares and shares those pains with us. Satan doesn’t like the words expressed today because they throw light on his work of accusation and throws light on God’s work of mending the very bones He chooses to break.

As a closing today, I want us to shout to God that we love Him and why we love Him.

Hebrews 13.20-21

May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Now, sit with the person next to you and pray for God’s work to be done in you this week. Let this be a week that is purely for Him, where He is glorified by all we do. Where we confess when we sin; where we lean on Him in our temptations; where we purposefully choose to tell another about the amazing God we serve. After this, you are dismissed.

Old Testament, Psalms, Sermons

Psalm 51-The Confession of Completion

Gallery February 6, 1994 David

Dancing with Broken Bones-A Series on Psalm 51-The Confession of Completion
February 06, 1994	Sermon by DRW	Passage Psalm 51.3-5

OUTLINE

Introduction

We learned in verses 1 and 2 David’s confession of knowing God’s grace and his own sin. In these three verses, David confesses that he knows his sins. Both of these are necessary for true repentance: knowing I have sinned and that God will forgive them (1 John 1.9). It is in knowing the reality and “lethality” of our sin that brings us sorrow that leads to repentance. And, it is knowing that God does forgive through His loving kindness that leads us to repent. That should show you why there is not as much repentance today as in years before. Its not that God is less kind, it is that we have lost sight of the reality and “lethality” of our sin. If is like the snake pit at the San Diego Zoo. I trip out when I go to it. There are snakes in it that look stuffed. So you get real close to them, then they move and scare the stuffing out of you. The apparent reality, harmless; the true reality, lethal.

We do the same thing with sin, thinking we can handle it, thinking that it is mundane and harmless and then the Snake from the pit of Hell lurches out bites you and then, and only then, do you see how lethal it really is.

Let us look into David’s personal diary and watch as he shows his remorse and completes his confession of sin.

1. Remorse

1. The Ghost that Haunts Him (3)

This is an ever present tension which is the source of his shame, despair, fear and his ultimate hope. For it is like the ghosts in Scrooge: A Christmas Story that brought him through the shame of yesterday, the despair of today and the fear of the future into his ultimate hope. So did David’s and so do ours.

There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Everywhere he went there was someone there to remind him of his sin. One year had passed from the adultery to the confrontation by Nathan of David’s sin. All during this time he lived with these reminders and the guilt that they brought.

1. The people who remind him

1. Uriah

1. memory

2. the general and husband of Bathsheba

2. Bathsheba

1. everything about her from her presence to her perfume, from her breath to her body

2. if the blood of bulls and goats couldn’t cover his sin, a wedding ceremony couldn’t either

3. His dead son

1. Bathsheba was pregnant

2. Six or seven months after their wedding she had a son, a few days later he died

1. watching her grow full with child

2. watching and hearing the birth

3. watching and feeling the death

4. Joab and the army

1. these are the ones whom he commanded to make sure that Uriah died.

2. Joab was his major military man

5. His very soul

2. The Holy Spirit reminds him

1. John 16.5-11

The very Spirit whom he prayed not to leave him in Psalm 51.11 is the one who reminded him of his guilt, shame, and despair.

A side note to be developed in a later message: In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit came and went as He pleased; in the New Testament He abides forever in the believer because of Jesus Christ.

transition 1. The truth of daily existence that reveals it

2. He knows it and feels it as God does (Isaiah 59.12)

1. no excuses, there are none, for God knows our sin

1. why confess? to admit to ourselves that we have stepped over God’s line and to restore fellowship with Him

2. David’s sin was always before him, oppressing him (Psalm 32.1-5). His request is that God will take it away from both his and God’s presence (Psalm 103.7-14).

2. he had to make a choice

1. repentance or

2. judgment

He chose repentance but still received earthly judgment (seen in the death of his son) for he was God’s man doing Satan’s work.

We need to remember: God is not mocked, whatever a man sows he shall also reap whether here or in eternity. Paul tells us if we sow corruption (adultery or whatever your particular sin may be) we shall sow corruption.

2. The Guilt that Horrifies Him (4a)

1. Known by God for it was against God only (emphatic) and it was before Him

All human relationships are established and upheld by God. Anyone who disrupts that relationship has sinned against the one who established it. As one author points out: “sin against man is not the infringement of rights which are man’s by nature, but the infringement of rights which are his because God willed that they should be his” (Rowley, 1945) (see Proverbs 17.5).

1. Prodigal Son in Luke 15.21 tells us this truth when he returns home to the father (representing God the Father) and tells Him, “Against You I have sinned.”

2. Psalm 139.7-10

1. have you ever had to face someone whom you have offended?

2. When we sin, the God whom we offend is present and sees our sin (omniscience and omnipresence).

1. Illustration of the one who sinned in front of her husband but didn’t know he was there. Both knew the sin but no fellowship ensued until forgiveness was sought and given.

2. tense

2. Deep sorrow and repentance

1. not remorse merely for the consequences

1. Saul wept because

1. he knew his kingdom was to be taken away from him

2. not because

1. he was sorrowful over attempted murder

2. and idolatry

2. Judas wept and committed suicide because

1. he felt pity for himself and was ashamed that Christ was to die;

2. not because he betrayed his Master and assisted in shedding innocent blood.

2. remorse for the sin itself and the deep rooted passion that set it aflame

To the one who has seen his sin, it is not a casual thing to encounter or write-off, but is intense. This intensity leads to repentance. Remember, its His kindness that leads to repentance and sometimes kindness is found at the end of a whipping post (Hebrews 12.4-11). David’s sorrow came not from a heaven to lose or a hell to gain–for he knew his God would not forsake him–but the sorrow came because in his heart he knew he had grieved God.

* Peter wept because

1. he knew he betrayed his Master

2. his was remorse for the sin and the passion that led to sin

3. this is true repentance

TRANSITION/ILLUSTRATION: My tree in Torrance, easy to cut but hard to remove because of the deep root system. Such is the root system of sin.

2. Completion of the Confession (4-5)

His was a completion of the confession, not an excuse for his sin.

1. He knew he was stained to the core

1. Original sin

1. nothing in man that can commend him to God

1. Romans 3.23

2. Ephesians 2.1

3. Ephesians 2.8,9

2. tainted to the core

* dead and rotting meat

2. Universality of sin

1. we all have it and only Jesus can change it

2. Only Jesus can take us out of this miry pit

* septic tank illustration

1. in rural areas a septic tank is used

2. an area of the tank caved in creating a massive whole in it

3. a dog fell into it

4. the owner had three choices

1. let the dog die there

2. put a ladder down and see if the dog will climb out

3. go in after him

5. God had three choices

1. let us die in our sin

2. send an angel (wouldn’t do)

3. go in after us (He did)

3. while God desires faithfulness in man, man dwells in sinfulness [broken with Jesus]

1. that is lies, deceit and murderer of victory and fellowship and intimacy

2. sounds like John 8.44

2. that God was just in disciplining him

1. He knows us

1. John 2.25

2. 1 Samuel 16.7

2. He wants us to grow into His Son (Ephesians 4.12-13; 1 John 3.1-3)

1. sin breaks the growth (no fellowship)

2. sin destroys victory (Achan)

3. He wants us to know Him

1. John 17.3

2. know intimately

* no one knows Pastor Chen like his daughters do

CONCLUSION

David went through a lot, but no more than we have. How many here have never sinned? . . . I’ll make it easier, how many here have not sinned this year? . . . I’ll make it easier, how many here have not sinned this weekend? We all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3.23). To say we haven’t is to call God a liar (1 John 1.5-10).

David confessed a lot, he didn’t offer excuses but confessed and repented of his sin; have we? If we don’t turn from our sins we destroy fellowship (read the thought for the week) and freedom in Christ and we destroy our souls.

Allow me to expand Psalm 32, David’s other confession for this sin, from personal experience.

You are free when your sins are forgiven,

Because your sins don’t separate you from God.

You’re dying when your sins are kept hidden,

Because your sins do separate you from God.

The most trying times of a man’s soul is when he attempts to live in fellowship with God and maintain his sin. His soul becomes downcast, his outlook becomes bleak, his desire to really live has left him, he becomes overwhelmed with guilt; he endlessly repeats the cycle of sin, repent, sin, repent, sin; his very reason for living is gone for he has denied his God; and he is without hope in this world. He feels in his heart that it would be better to forsake God and continue in his sin or commit suicide thinking this will relieve the pain and everything else. He tries to do what Saul and Judas did. He listens to the accuser and tempter, Satan. Every time he listens to that hissing sound he believes a little less truth and is less free. His soul is in bondage. When he believes and lives the lie he will walk a living death. The truth is what David says in Psalm 32.5: acknowledge your sin (admit what you have done) for God wants you to see as He sees the heinousness of your sin against Him; turn from it. God will forgive, restore fellowship, give hope, declare “not guilty,” and give victory in His time.

Will you today take hold of the cleansing flood? Will you today allow God to make you whole in His Son? Will you today allow God to search you and let you see the sin that is in you? Will you today be released from the ghosts and guilt that haunts and horrifies you? Will you be set free and complete the confession? If you will, come up here and pray with me.

Jesus says, “Come unto me all who are heavy burdened and I will give rest to your souls.” God bids you to come and confess (Romans 10.9). The Spirit seeks and finds and cleanses (John 16). Come.

Father, this is the first step You’ve given. Help us to seek forgiveness of those we have sinned before. Thank You for forgiving us, restoring us, and cleansing us. We thank You for the kindnesses You’ve bestowed on us in Jesus. We thank You for allowing us to come to You. Amen

Those of you who would like to be held accountable to your repentance to bear the fruit of repentance, please talk with me or a trusted brother or sister in Christ. Allow us to fulfill Galatians 6.1-4.

Doxology

Read Jude 24 and add: “May He lead you into the way everlasting. Amen.”

Please be seated.

[go sit down and pray]

Sermons

Monthly Archives: February 1994

Psalm 51-How Does the Kingdom Grow?

Psalm 51-I’m Not a Baboon, I’m a Child of God!

Psalm 51-Snap! Crackle! Pop!

Psalm 51-The Confession of Completion

Scriptural Truths for Today's World