Topic: Contrite Spirit
Text: Psalms 51:1-17
By Ptr. Jack Segismundo
Jesus is Lord Church
Psalm 51
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts [a] ;
you teach [b] me wisdom in the inmost place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
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 [c] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.
INTRODUCTION:
The words of Charles Spurgeon leaves a striking mark to people who thought of themselves as strong and immovable leading them to their arrogance and pride. But the real fact of life is that man is entirely dependent upon God in all the areas of their lives. Nobody boast against God regarding his strength, wisdom and riches. God has given them all to man. And what God has given He can take it away.
Most of the time God prefers to use the fools, the poor and the nobody of this world to compound their opposite. People would say that it is foolish to use what the world considered fools for the glory of God. But God think otherwise.
“When God wants to do an impossible task, He takes an impossible man and breaks him. As the evangelist, Charles Spurgeon, said, ‘We are but men, frail, feeble, and apt to faint.’
I am intrigued by the word ‘broken. ‘ It means, literally, ‘shattered.’ My sacrifice to God, according to Psalm 51:17, is a shattered spirit and a bruised heart. It is not until the pride of our heart is shattered that we will begin to understand the deep things of God. The shattering and the bruising are so designed by God for the preparation of his spokesman. As (christians), we understand what it means to be frail.
“God will not despise a broken and contrite heart. All of God’s giants have been weak men. Every man that sits on this platform is a weak man. Every one of us is frail, feeble, and apt to faint. The greatest gift you can give your congregation is a genuine model of your humanity. Admit your weakness, or your unresolved conflicts, and then let yourself be broken about it by God. It may be between you and your wife; it may be between you and your staff member’ it may be an unforgiving spirit, even alcoholism, incest, pornography—maybe gluttony, or plagiarism, or a critical spirit. It could be the sin of pride, or those sins that Jesus hated most, those of hypocrisy. Release it to God. If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” - Men of Action, Spring 1996, Chuck Swindoll, What It Means To Be Broken!
Let us take a look on how Webster define “CONTRITE” :
WEBSTER DICTIONARY DEFINES CONTRITE AS :
Contrite - feeling or showing sorrow and remorse for a sin or shortcoming
The word can properly describe through an illustration:
Sarah was rich. She had inherited twenty million dollars. Plus she had an additional income of one thousand dollars a day. That’s a lot of money any day, but it was immense in the late 1800s.
Sarah was well known. She was the belle of New Haven, Connecticut. No social event was complete without her presence. No one hosted a party without inviting her.
Sarah was powerful. Her name and money would open almost any door in America. Colleges wanted her donations. Politicians clamored for her support. Organizations sought her endorsement.
Sarah was rich. Well known. Powerful. And miserable.
Her only daughter had died at five weeks of age. Then her husband had passed away. She was left alone with her name, her money, her memories,…and her guilt. It was her guilt that caused her to move west. A passion for penance drove her to San Jose, California. Her yesterdays imprisoned her todays, and she yearned for freedom.
She bought an eight-room farmhouse plus one hundred sixty adjoining acres. She hired sixteen carpenters and put them to work. For the next thirty-eight years, craftsmen labored every day, twenty-four hours a day, to build a mansion.
Observers were intrigued by the project. Sarah’s instructions were more than eccentric…they were eerie. The design had a macabre touch. Each window was to have thirteen panes, each wall thirteen panels, each closet thirteen hooks, and each chandelier thirteen globes.
The floor plan was ghoulish. Corridors snaked randomly, some leading nowhere. One door opened to a blank wall, another to a fifty-foot drop. One set of stairs led to a ceiling that had no door. Trap doors. Secret passageways. Tunnels. This was no retirement home for Sarah’s future; it was a castle for her past.
The making of this mysterious mansion only ended when Sarah died. The completed estate sprawled over six acres and had six kitchens, thirteen bathrooms, forty stairways, forty-seven fireplaces, fifty-two skylights, four hundred sixty-seven doors, ten thousand windows, one hundred sixty rooms, and a bell tower..........
There is, wrote Paul, a “worldly sorrow” that “brings death.” A guilt that kills. A sorrow that’s fatal. A venomous regret that’s deadly.
How many Sarah Winchesters do you know? - In the Eye of the Storm by Max Lucado, Word Publishing, 1991, pp. 193-195
Astonishing. A broken lady who desires to make up for her shortcomings.
WHAT IS A CONTRITE SPIRIT?
I. IT IS AN ATTITUDE OF A MAN WHO PLEADS FOR MERCY – Romans 11:30-31
““30Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now[a] receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.”
The scripture usually talks about the mercy of God. But mercy is something you ask for.
It is an act of humility. An act of remorse. God desires to forgive. But forgiveness comes only from a heart who pleads for mercy.
Mercy is a compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one’s power. Mercy is something you give to people. Not just an ordinary people but the one who effend you. One thaty is ask of an offender. There is one story of a mother who pleads for his son. And Mercy is best illustrated in this.
A mother once approached Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. The emperor replied that the young man had committed a certain offense twice and justice demanded death.
"But I don’t ask for justice,? the mother explained. "I plead for mercy.?
"But your son does not deserve mercy,? Napoleon replied.
"Sir,? the woman cried, "it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for.?
"Well, then,? the emperor said, "I will have mercy.? And he spared the woman’s son.
Luis Palau, "Experiencing God’s Forgiveness,? Multnomah Press, 1984
II. IS AN ATTITUDE OF A MAN WHO ACKNOWLEDGES HIS SINS – Psalms 32:1-3
One of the hardest thing to do for a man is to acknowledge that he has done wrong. Men, generally, are always at the defensive side. Defensing ourselves with their own reason, with our own alibi. But what pleases the heart of God is an attitude of repentance.
Let me tell you a story of a dutchman.
“When I was in South Africa, a fine, handsome Dutchman came into my service, and God laid His hand on him and convicted him of sin. The next morning he went to the beautiful home of another Dutchman and said to him, "Do you recognize that old watch?"
"Why, yes," answered the other. "Those are my initials; that is my watch. I lost it eight years ago. How did you get it, and how long have you had it?"
"I stole it," was the reply.
"What made you bring it back now?"
"I was converted last night," was the answer, "and I have brought it back first thing this morning. If you had been up, I would have brought it last night." - Gipsy Smith, The Bible Friend
III. IS AN ATTITUDE OF A MAN WHO DESIRES TO BE CLEANSED – Rom.12:1
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.”
In the forests of northern Europe and Asia lives little animal called the ermine, known for his snow-white fur in winter. He instinctively protects his white coat against anything that would soil it.
Fur hunters take advantage of this unusual trait of the ermine. They don’t set a snare to catch him, but instead they find his home, which is usually a cleft in a rock or a hollow in an old tree. They smear the entrance and interior with grime. Then the hunters set their dogs loose to find and chase the ermine. The frightened animal flees toward home but doesn’t enter because of the filth. Rather than soil his white coat, he is trapped by the dogs and captured while preserving his purity. For the ermine, purity is more precious than life. - HGB - Our Daily Bread, April 21, 1997
A commentary on Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary speaks about sanctification
Conversion and sanctification are the renewing of the mind; a change, not of the substance, but of the qualities of the soul. The progress of sanctification, dying to sin more and more, and living to righteousness more and more, is the carrying on this renewing work, till it is perfected in glory. The great enemy to this renewal is, conformity to this world. Take heed of forming plans for happiness, as though it lay in the things of this world, which soon pass away. Do not fall in with the customs of those who walk in the lusts of the flesh, and mind earthly things. The work of the Holy Ghost first begins in the understanding, and is carried on to the will, affections, and conversation, till there is a change of the whole man into the likeness of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. Thus, to be godly, is to give up ourselves to God.
