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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.

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