Let the Bones You Have Broken Leap for Joy Again! - Part 3

The the Lord. To Psalm 51. I wanna continue our series that I started some time back and just have been making installments as we go along, working our way through Psalm 51. Key verse that I'm looking at, verse eight, make me to hear joy and gladness. Let the bones which you have broken rejoice.

There is in the history of the body of the redeemed. There are some of us who've really botched it throughout history. And the question becomes, can anything good come out of a life that has sinned so grievously against God? We can list many throughout history. Think of the early church fathers.

We can think of Augustine. Even before him in the New Testament, we can think of Paul. We can think of Peter. Sometimes we can really botch it. Sin against God in great ways. And yet in the providence of God, he is able to take even some of the greatest disasters and turn them into some of the greatest blessings.

Is a record of David's prayer, his contrition before the Lord after Nathan came in and confronted him about his sin with Bathsheba, which led to the murder of Uriah. If ever there is a sin on the pages of scripture that is grievous, it is David's. It decimated a nation.

Talk about demoralizing your people. I mean, who wants to serve a king like that? Very demoralizing. And yet in Psalm 51, we have this beautiful able to that. That. So do conviction and responding to it in a right way leads. Let the bones which you have broken, the conviction that came upon David, the crushing weight, the burden of sin David experienced.

And so his prayer in this Psalm is let them leap for joy again. Let the bones which you have broken rejoice. The word for rejoice is to leap again. So you think about that. How does a person who has all their bones crushed leap again? It can only be a work of God.

Of course, David is talking about not his literal body. But what a metaphor. Imagine all your bones broken and then God causing you to leap again. Which leads us to Psalm 51. And I wanna read it in its entirety just to bring it back to your mind, and then we'll look at where we've been briefly and continue.

Verse one, be gracious to me, o God, according to your loving kindness. According to the greatness of your compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only I have sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you are justified blameless when you judge.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, you desire truth in innermost being, and in the hidden we're to able the world. Spirit God. Is spirit the of within of me. Do not cast me away from your presence, is and do not take your holy spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will be converted to you. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, o God, the God of my salvation. Then my tongue will joyfully sing of your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips that my mouth may declare your praise. For you do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it. You were not pleased with burnt offering. Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, o God, you will not despise. Word By your favor, do good to Zion.

And Build the walls of Jerusalem, then you will delight in righteous righteous sacrifices and burnt offering and whole burnt offering. Then young bulls will be offered on your altar. But looking at where we've been oh, I think there's I think there was a one I uploaded a little bit earlier, or a little bit later in the day.

But in part one, we looked at verses one through eight, And we noticed that the cleansing of a soul and that's really what we're after. How is a soul cleansed from sin? We know how the washing of the body takes place, but how does the immaterial part of our being be cleansed?

How does that happen? Well, we noticed that it's a triune work. It begins with the holy spirit's conviction, which drives a person to look to the father for compassion and then appeal to the son's sacrificial work. Hyssop takes us to that cleansing of that lamb, Passover lamb, and the sprinkling of his blood.

So it's a triune work. We must receive the Holy Spirit's conviction, look to the father's compassion, and appeal to the son's cleansing. That's what the first eight verses are about. In part two, in verses nine through 10, we looked at the the results or the big picture results of God's cleansing work.

And in verse nine, we notice what God has to do within himself. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. God has to block our sin from his sight. That's what has to happen. And then he has to block them out, erase, get rid of all our iniquities, all of our crookedness.

That's what God has to do within himself. Then in verse 10, we see what God has to do within this sinner to bring about a cleansing. God has to bestow a clean heart. He blocks our sin from his sight. He blots out all our iniquities, and he bestows a clean heart.

And finally, he has to breathe a new spirit within. God has to do something on his side. He has to do something within the person. It's the result of cleansing work. Well, tonight, I wanna pick up in verse 11 and focus on the reviving power of one who experiences God's forgiveness.

There is life after sin, after even great sin. There is a rebuilding. Even God can use sin all manner of sin, not he uses the way he deals with our sin, he can use it for his glory as he does in David's case. Case. And I want you to see that tonight.

I want you to see even though David sinned greatly, and we're reminded that the one who has sinned greatly has the capacity to love greatly because they know the depth of God's love for them. And this is what David experiences. And this is why we're constantly calling people to look at their sin, to deal with their sin.

Conversion is our aim. Be born again. Really understand your sin. Because if we make light of sin, you'll have very little capacity to love. But if you really deal with the the awfulness of sin and even your own sin and you recognize the great compassion and forgiving power of God, it revives.

It awakens. It there is a reviving power that only comes from really dealing honestly with sin and experiencing God's forgiveness. And David is an example of that. And so this section, you're looking at verses 11 and to the end. It tells us what a clean heart desires. What does a clean okay.

So God has cleansed. It's a it's a triune work. It involves the father, the son, and the spirit. And God blots out and he creates a new heart and a new spirit. And this new spirit shows up in new desires, clean desires. That's what I wanna look at.

First, reviving power of God's cleansing work shows up in a desire to teach transgressors. At one time, David was content to be a transgressor, and now he wants to teach them. Look at verse 11. David experienced several good things as God was dealing with his sin. In that process of dealing with David's sin, David experienced several good things.

First, he experienced deliverance from judgment. Look at verse 11. Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Certainly not. God, may you not cast me away. That's what judgment is about. Do not take away your Holy Spirit. Literally, do not take your spirit of holiness from me.

Yes, I think in David Saul was big on his mind. I think it goes beyond just his office. David really wants a relationship with God. Do not take away your spirit of holiness. Do not give me over to my spirit of uncleanness or my evils. Cause me, do not cause me to be forever removed from your presence.

But he experienced this deliverance from judgment. That's what judgment is. Being cast away from God's good presence forever, taking away every inclination of God's spirit from us. Common grace Second good thing that David experienced was joy in God's salvation. Look at 12. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit.

David is saying restore. Cause it to return. Cause the gladness of your salvation. Remember what he said in verse eight? Look back in verse eight. Make me to hear joy and gladness. Let the bones which you have broken rejoice. Make me to hear joy and gladness. Let me hear good news.

Good news that would bring about joy and gladness. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, news about God's salvation. Sustain me with the willing spirit. Let a willing spirit, a noble spirit, a spirit of nobleness remain with me. A spirit that wants to do what is right before you.

Sustain don't take your holy spirit, but rather sustain in me a willing spirit. It's dependent upon you to keep within me a spirit that wants to do what is right. Joy in salvation. So these are several good things. He experienced deliverance from judgment. He experienced joy in God's salvation, which led him to want to teach transgressors.

He wanted to teach sinners how to live again. Look at what he says in verse 13. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will be converted to you. And it's really strong language. He's saying, look. Don't cast me from your presence. Don't take your spirit away from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation after all that I have done. And then I I will cause sinners to learn your ways. I will cause those rebelling ones the course of your conduct. And as a result, sinners are going to be converted. It will be successful.

So David experiences God's forgiveness, and it this clean spirit comes in, and it's a desire to treat teach transgressors God's ways. How to be forgiven. How to walk in his ways. And that's where David goes. Second clean desire or the reviving power of God's cleansing work is a desire to sing of God's righteousness.

He wanted to celebrate God's righteousness. He experienced another good thing. Look in verse 14. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, o God, the God of my salvation. Then my tongue will joyfully sing of your righteousness. Another good thing David experienced through this process, he he experienced a joy in God's righteousness.

Verse 14 starts with the with the the plea, deliver me. Pull me out of it. It's like he's going down, down, down. He's stuck in a mire. Pull me out of something. What does he wanna be pulled out of? Blood guiltiness. Whose blood guiltiness is he wanting to be freed from?

Uriah. Remember? At least Uriah, among others, may have pulled me out of a state of being guilty of bloodshed. Now that's a plea. We ask God to do things nothing like this. Pull me out of a state of being guilty of blood guiltiness. You remember in the law, there was this manslayer law.

If a person killed somebody, either accidentally or on purpose, they were to flee to a city of refuge for it to be sorted out. Why? Because there would manslayer would be coming after them, the avenger of blood, the way it's done. An avenger of blood is going to track you down and is hot on your tail to bring about to bring you down to the grave for what you did.

That's the whole idea of manslayer. Deliver me from blood guiltiness. David is asking for a deliverance that is more extreme and more complicated than Pharaoh in pursuit. That was easy. Yeah. Put the hole, open up the sea, get Pharaoh's army in there, bring down the whole sea upon him.

That's relatively easy. But how does a holy God justly justify a sinner? How does God pull somebody out of blood guiltiness? That's what David is asking for. O God, deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation. Now there's a wonderful title, the God of my salvation.

Wonderful title. There is such a God who is interested in your well-being and knows how to bring it about. The God of my salvation is the God of salvation. Can you say in honesty before God and in accordance with his Holy Spirit, can you say, God is the God of my salvation.

He is the God of my well-being. And what a comforting thought that is. God is the God of my well-being. Don't you want a relationship with this God? What a title. Don't be satisfied in life until you can come to the point and say, God not only is the God who saves, but he is the God of my salvation.

Don't go through life and miss that. What a wonderful title. The God of my well-being. He is the ruler of the universe, the deliverer from blood guiltiness. He is mine. He is the God of my salvation. That's what David's praying for. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation.

Then if you do this, God, my tongue will joyfully sing of your righteousness. My tongue will not be able to be silent. If you will pull me out of this of being guilty of this bloodshed, then my tongue can't help but sing of your righteousness. Then my tongue will shout, will declare in song.

That's one of the most marvelous things is that we have Psalm 51. David said, if you will restore to me the joy of my of of your salvation, then I am going to teach transgressors your ways. And you know how he does that? He puts his whole sin in a song, to be sung.

And we're studying it now. And transgressors are learning how to deal with sin. You and I are deal are learning how to deal with our sin. A marvelous gift. What a good thing. So David experienced another good thing, joy in God's righteousness, which led him to want to declare God's righteousness.

Look at what he says in verse 15. O Lord, open my lips that my mouth may declare your praise. Very interesting. You'd be opening my lips that my mouth may state emphatically your praise. Deliver me from blood guiltiness. See this clean desire to celebrate God's righteousness? He wants to sing of God's righteousness, which is really interesting.

Word for righteousness. I will sing of your honesty. I will sing of your rightness. I will sing of your uprightness. I will declare your justness. I will declare your loyalty. All of that is bound up in that word. I will sing of your righteousness. Open my mouth to declare your praise, which is very interesting, isn't it?

David is wanting justice to be served while also being delivered from blood guiltiness. Penalty of death for David was clear, deserving of death, And yet he's wanting justice even as God deals with David and his injustice. Can't help but have a savior. Can't help to have a substitution.

Can't help but have a hyssop in the sun's cleansing work. Well, reviving power of God's cleansing work, you can see it in this desire to teach transgressors, awakened alive, a desire to sing of God's righteousness. And third, a desire to offer pleasing sacrifices to God. A desire to offer that which is pleasing to God.

Look at verse 16. For you do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it. You were not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Verse 16, indeed truly, for you truly are not favorable or inclined or delighting in the slaying of a lot of animals.

If that were the case, I would give it. And David had the ability to give lots of them. If you want animals up there being slayed, David says, would give it. But you're not pleased. You don't think that it is you're not satisfied with burnt offering. Verse 17, he says this, the sacrifices of God, the slayings of God are a broken spirit.

A broken and contrite heart, o God, you will not despise. This is the sacrifice. This is the one who is truly broken over sin. A heart and a spirit crushed by the weight of sin. Over one sin. Over sin in the world. One's own sin. Such sacrifices, God is not gonna be looked down upon.

Quite the contrary. These are the pleasing sacrifices. You see the reviving power of God's cleansing work in David's life. He then goes from being a transgressor to wanting to teach transgressor. He goes one who suppressed God's righteousness, went his own way, and then wants to declare and sing of God's righteousness.

And he moves to a desire to offer the pleasing sacrifices to God, which happen in heart. And fourth, the reviving power of God's cleansing cleansing work is seen in a clean desire for God to show favor to those who are harmed by our sin. A desire for God to show favor to those harmed by our sin.

Look at verse 18. By your favor, do good to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem. By your favor, by your good will to Zion. Notice by your favor to Zion. Not your favor to me. David, all of sudden his mind goes to the larger community, to the community where who was harmed by his sin.

I mean, and they were. Could you imagine? Can you imagine life in the post Bathsheba, Uriah, sin? Just think of the daily reminders. Oh, there comes Bathsheba again. Mind goes back. Oh, yeah. Bathsheba. And you see, Uriah had family. Just think about oh, Bathsheba had family. You just think about the the reminders over and over.

You think about what this did to the morale of the military. You think about all of this kind of stuff. By your favor, do good. And here's his plea. Cause good to come about in the community. Zion, build up the walls of Jerusalem. Yes. This is the same.

Zion and Jerusalem. Talking that cause good to come about in Jerusalem. Bring about what is pleasing and beautiful even in the aftermath of this great sin. His sin harmed the community As sin always does, it harms the community. You never sin in isolation. Your sin inevitably harms someone else.

You really come to terms with your sin. You're really experiencing God's cleansing work. There will be a desire for God to show favor to those harmed by our sin. Build up the walls of Jerusalem. Because by David's actions, he harmed the walls of Jerusalem, the fortifications. You think about it.

David's sin harmed the whole nation. Talk about breaking morale. Who wants to serve a king like that? What an evil dynasty this is. What are we doing? All that. That has a impact of weakening the fortifications, the literal walls, because literal walls are built by people. Row down.

So build up the walls of Jerusalem. Then look at verse 19. Then at that time, then you will delight in righteous sacrifices. In burnt offering and whole burnt offering, then young bulls will be offered on your altar. Righteous sacrifices in the whole community that he wants to use this episode in his life to cause good to come about in the whole community.

And that God would use it for good so that righteous sacrifices and this is a very important concept because you think about it, doing right inevitably involves a sacrifice. Worshiping God day in and day out is about responding rightly to situations even when it requires sacrifices of time, issue, desire, then you will delight in righteous sacrifices, which will stem from the heart, a heart inclined to righteousness.

May the whole nation be inclined to righteousness. And his prayer and by laying this out and by putting this in song, what David does is he gives a gift the aftermath of this horrific sin, he gives a gift to the nation, showing sinners how to be cleansed of sin.

And not only just how to be cleansed, but then how to be an instrument to teach other sinners how not to sin and what to do when they do sin so that others will experience God's forgiving grace. So that they too will sing for joy, That they will understand and be able to say, God is not only the God who says, but he is the God of my salvation.

Many good things we've seen in this psalm. And tonight, many good things came out of God's cleansing work. There was deliverance from judgment. There was joy in God's salvation. There is the conversion of sinners in verse 13. There's joy in God's righteousness in verse 14. There's a new voice, David, singing a new kind of praise in verse 15.

There are pleasing sacrifices being offered to God in verses sixteen and seventeen. There's a love for the community of God in verses eighteen and nineteen. Many good things came out of this reviving power, God's grace. But there's one more. It isn't written in the text here, but it is worth mentioning.

You know it was through Bathsheba and Solomon that the Messiah's kingly line comes. An incredible picture of grace. Do good to Zion. Cause good to come about. Bring about what is pleasing and beautiful. Now I wanna say something here. Maybe be careful with how I say it. But it's evident, looking at this Psalm, that God used David's sin to make the world a better place.

Now that's hard to get your mind around theologically. God did not sanction David's sin nor does this excuse David of his sin. It was horrific. It was wrong, and it was harmful, and it was painful. But then you see God. You see a man you see God confront David, and you see God deal with great horrific sin in a person.

And you see the person broken, crushed by the weight of his sin. And then by the end of this psalm, you see bones that had been crushed leaping again. Yes. God used David's sin to make the world a better place. Even though he didn't author it, he used it for his glory.

So what does this tell us? It gives us a vision. It gives sinners a vision of what God can do with the life that is truly broken over sin and comes to him for cleansing. Some of us think, okay, you've and you look history of Christianity. I mean, there's some people among the redeemed that have really watched it.

And what this psalm does is it gives sinners a vision of what of what God can do with a person who is truly broken over sin. And it doesn't matter. You don't have to go sin grievously. All sin is grievous. You just have to recognize who God is.

Recognize your sin. Come to him for cleansing. And experience his reviving power. Yeah. There's a vision. Psalm 51 gives sinners a vision of what God can do even with the sins that you have done, how he can use those for good. So walk in step with the spirit.

Follow the holy spirit's conviction. Appeal to the father for compassion and look to the son for his cleansing work, the cross. He can deliver and pull a person out of blood guiltiness and cleanse them. He washes them inside and out. He puts a new heart. He can put a clean spirit.

And out of that comes a power of life. There is reviving power when one experiences God's cleansing work, and that is the ministry of the church. To proclaim it, to call people, to surrender, to be forgiven, and to not let them fall short of full and complete repentance.

Because only the ones who know that they have been forgiven much have the capacity to love much. I don't care who you are in this room. I don't care how old you are. You've sinned grievously in the sight of God, and you need his cleansing work. May the bones which you have broken leap for joy again.

Let's pray. Heavenly father, we do come before you just recognizing just the what great grace there is in you convicting of of our sin. Just letting us know how wrong it is and the good things that can come out of that if we will respond. The right spirit.

Thank you, father, for being the god of second chances and third chances and fourth chances and fifth and more. We just thank you, father, for your great grace. May we experience your reviving power. May we leap for joy as we leave this place in Christ's name.