The Remedy for a Broken Heart (A sermon based on Psalm 51:10-17)

The Remedy for a Broken Heart
A sermon based on Psalm 51:10-17
Sunday, May 31, 2009 - Pentecost B

        Good morning. My name is David. You may wonder why I'm going to speak to you about Pentecost when I lived a thousand years before that great event when Jehovah sent his Holy Spirit upon the disciples of the Messiah. But I assure you that I am well equipped to speak on the topic. You see, even a thousand years before that I event, I understood the work of the Holy Spirit. I understood first hand. For I too had the Spirit come to give me life and create a new heart in me. And I wrote about in one of my favorite songs, Psalm 51.
        But first, I suppose I should give you a little background, so you know what prompted me to write... Well, let me tell you. It is good to be king! At least, that's what I thought. After all, I had it all. I was winning every battle fought. My kingdom was growing larger every day. No one challenged the throne. I had whatever I wanted whenever I wanted... including women. I already had several wives, but one day, I saw another women... one I had to have! I inquired about her and though she was a married womean, I summoned her to my palace and no one refuses the king. We had our fun and I sent her home. Like I said, it's good to be king.
        But a few weeks later, she sent word. She was pregnant. I invited her husband home from war to spend some time with his wife in order to pass the child off as his. But he foolishly refused,  leaving me no choice but to have him... well, how should I put this? ...removed from the picture. The woman was free to remarry so I took another wife and thought the matter was done. I had what I wanted and no one knew the wiser. 
        But things weren't okay. I had a broken heart. No, I didn't lose my new wife, but I did lose the close relationship with Jehovah that I once enjoyed. My heart was broken by my own sin and I didn't even know it. But in his great grace, Jehovah did not abandon me to myself. He sent his prophet, Nathan. And through him, God gave me the remedy for a broken heart: His Holy Spirit. And inspired by that same Spirit (2 Samuel 23:2) I wrote a prayer, set to music. Here's the second half of that prayer, Psalm 51:10-17...

¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. ¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. ¹⁴ Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. ¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. ¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. ¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 

        At first I didn't know that my heart was broken. And without that knowledge, I was surely lost. But praise Jehovah, his prophet showed me how broken I was. He told me the story of a man of great wealth who had thousands of sheep, but when an invited guest came to him, he slaughtered his poor neighbor's only ewe lamb which he treated like a family pet and loved like his own daughter. "What a scoundrel!" I thought and was enraged at such a vicious act! "As surely as the LORD lives," I cried, "the man who did this deserves to die!" (2 Samuel 12:5)
        But what a blow the prophet delivered when he said in such a soft and quiet voice, "You are the man!" (2 Samuel 12:7) It wasn't a case he brought before me, but a parable about me. And it worked! What did I just say? "The man who did this deserves to die!"? It was true. There was no arguing it. I was broken.
        You know, when Absalom or Amnon or Solomon were young children how often they would come to me with a small wooden horse or a toy soldier or doll with an arm or a leg snapped clean off! "Fix it, Abba! Fix it!" they'd cry as the streams of tears would pour down their dirty little faces. But not even the King of Israel could fix those toys! They were garbage destined for the rubbish heap in Gehenna. 
        And that's just what I was like. I was broken. Imperfect. Guilty of adultery. Guilty of murder. I had bloodguilt and had no right or expectation to stand before a just and holy and sinless God. I was garbage destined for the darkest pits of Sheol. The only thing I deserved from Jehovah was to be cast away from his presence and thrown into hell. 
        And there was nothing I could do to fix it. No amount of sacrifices that I could make would make God delight in me. No burnt offerings no matter how numerous or costly could ever please him. I could not undo what I had done. Not even the King of Israel, the most powerful man in the world could fix it.
        And friends, the same was once true of you. "Not me!" you argue, "For I'm no adulterer!" ...Really? Have you never had an impure thought? Have you never noticed a person of the opposite sex and wondered, if just for a moment, what if...? "Perhaps, just a thought," you say, but I'm no murderer!" ...Really? You have never been unloving or unkind to another? You've never been apathetic to the needs of those you don't know? Well the opposite of love is apathy! It is synonymous with hatred. And you know what the Messiah the said: 
        ²¹"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' ²²But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,^' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. (Matthew 5:21-22) And ²⁷"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' ²⁸But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:27-28)
        You see, you too, friends, had a broken heart! And nothing could fix it. No amount of sacrifice or offering. No renewed attempt to clean up your act. No "I'll try harder next time." You were broken. And God could not accept broken. You were fit only for the garbage heap of Gehenna. You were destined to be cast away from the presence of Jehovah to an eternity without him in hell.
        And when we realize how broken we are through the Spirit's work on us by his Law, he gives us a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart that cries out to God, "Fix it, Abba!" And when we do, Jehovah will not despise that contrite heart, but will fix it. When the kids would come to me with that broken toy that could not be repaired, but had to be cast away, I could not bear their tears and their sobs. Maybe it wasn't the best parenting, but I couldn't help but say "Here, take 10 shekels and buy another! Or if it would please you, take the money to the craftsman. Let him create a new toy to your liking."
        And just as they would soon have a freshly carved horse or soldier without any blemish or wear, in the same way God made a new heart for me and he's done the same for you. For even though there was nothing that you or I could ever do to fix our hearts or change our situation before a just and holy Jehovah, there's nothing that we need to do. That's what Pentecost is all about! We can't do it, but God can! His Holy Spirit is the only remedy for a broken heart. And his Spirit doesn't just fix our broken hearts, but creates in us new hearts, pure hearts, within us.
        You know how he did it. You've seen more clearly than I ever did when I walked the earth. I knew that someday the Messiah would come to sit on my throne and that somehow, my Lord would take my sin away. But you've seen how he saved you from your bloodguilt. You've seen how he was the sacrificial Lamb who was killed on the cross in our place! That fictional man who slaughtered his neighbor's ewe lamb deserved to die. So did I. So did you. But the Messiah took the fall for us. He became the scapegoat that took our sins on himself and died in our place to remove every adultery, every murder, and every sin we've ever done! And by that act, and by the Holy Spirit giving us the very faith that trusts that this sacrifice applies to us, we have new hearts within us that are pure and holy and sinless.
        And now that we're pure and holy, the just and righteous Jehovah no longer needs to cast us away from him. But instead he fills our new hearts with joy and keeps renewing that joy again and again. When I was king over Israel my personal attendants made sure that my cup of wine never ran dry. It was a bottomless cup, filled up again and again until I told them to stop. That's how it is with the joy of salvation that Jehovah gives to us! He renews it again and again. And whenever we need it again, he restores to us the joy of our salvation, by that wonderful proclamation we hear so often, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die." (2 Samuel 12:13b) 
        And with that joy of our salvation restored and renewed, we long to serve him. In my Psalm I added an artistic play on words in the Hebrew. You see, that phrase "grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me" could also be translated "grant me the noble Spirit to sustain me." That's why your translation of my Psalm in your book of Psalms has a capital "S" where your translation of that same Psalm in your Scriptures does not. But both are true! (That's the artistry of what I wrote and I'm particularly proud of that line!) You see the Holy Spirit--and what a noble Spirit he is!--is given to us. He does sustain us as he keeps us in the faith and gives us a steadfast spirit that resists the temptations we face. But by his work of keeping us focused on the Messiah and the work he's done, he also gives a willing spirit. He gives us hearts and minds that long to avoid every evil, turning away from adultery and murder, and keeping all of Jehovah's commands. He gives us willing spirits eager to serve the Messiah in thanks! 
        And so as our joy wells up within us, we can't help but sing of his righteousness--the righteousness that he gives us! Oh how I enjoyed writing music and singing the praises of him who saved me. But I have to tell you, my Psalms, as beautiful as they are, are nothing compared to what we sing up there! Those songs are, well... heavenly! And even if God has not blessed you with the musical ability that I enjoyed, you can still sing of his righteousness by the smile on your face, by the kind word on your lips, by going the extra mile in service to another out of love for him. 
        And finally, with the joy of a new, pure heart, welling up within us, we can't help but declare his praises to others. Tell them what he has done! Tell them what he has done for you! Tell them what he's done for them too! For he took your broken heart and provided the only remedy. He gave you a new heart, a pure heart. He gave you his Spirit. He gave you life. He gave you heaven itself. Sing to him in thanks!
        Let me read you the second half of my Psalm once more as we pray it together: ¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. ¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. ¹⁴ Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. ¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. ¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. ¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Amen.