God does not despise the broken and contrite heart

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation:and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.Psalm 51:14, KJV

Observe, that David was evidently oppressed with the heinousness of his sin. It is easy to use words, but it is difficult to feel their meaning. The fifty-first Psalm is the photograph of a contrite spirit. Let us seek after the like brokenness of heart; for however excellent our words may be, if our heart is not conscious of the hell-deservingness of sin, we cannot expect to find forgiveness

-Charles Spurgeon, "Morning and Evening," April 7 evening
The broken and contrite heart is a gift of the Holy SpiritThe broken and contrite heart is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Apart from His enlightening work, we cannot see our sin (e.g.-Jeremiah 17:9-10; John 3:19-21; John 16:8-15).Conviction of sin is no picnic. In Hebrews 12 we read that God's chastening is painful and not pleasant. Conviction of sin breaks our hearts, brings us to our knees and makes us weep. There is a heaviness and a loss of joy. We know we've broken fellowship with our loving Father. We know that we've despised His goodness and grace to us. Our hearts ache over our sin. (See Psalms 32, 38, 51 and 85.)Charles Spurgeon [1] writes of David's words in Psalm 51:3 (KJV), For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me:
"As if the record of it were painted on my eyeballs. I cannot look anywhere without seeing it. I seem to taste it in my meat and drink; and when I fall asleep, I dream of it, for thy wrath has come upon me, and now my transgression haunts me wherever I go."

Are you feeling as if the record of your sin is painted on your eyeballs?God's intent in bringing our sin to our attention is only for our good.Conviction of sin is one of God's most precious gifts to us. God's making us feel our sin is painted on our eyeballs is part of His kindness which leads us to repentance.God's purpose for His children while we are in this world is to for us to be His holy and peculiar people, to live in the world but not live according to the world's ways. He intends for us to shine as lights in this dark world and to reflect Christ to the world so the world might glorify our Father in heaven (I Peter 2:9-12; Philippians 2:12-16; Matthew 5:13-16). But when we sin we are not walking worthy of the calling with which we were called and we give cause to the world to blaspheme the name of Christ on account of our sinfulness and carelessness.God's ultimate purpose for His chosen people is to transform and conform us to the image of His Son so we might stand holy and blameless before His throne, all to the praise of His glorious grace.
...Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:25b-27.And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Revelation 21:2.
God's will for us is sanctification (I Thessalonians 4:3). Even though our sanctification is guaranteed (and, in fact, in God's eyes it is a done deal-see Romans 8:30), it is still being worked out. Christ is our sanctification (I Cor. 1:30) and sanctifier (Hebrews 2:11), yet part of His sanctifying work is to show us our sin so we might confess and repent of our sin.If God didn't show us our sin, if the Spirit didn't convict us of sin, we wouldn't be able to confess our sin and repent of it and be forgiven and cleansed.As the Spirit convicts and humbles us and gives us broken and contrite hearts, we can trust that is part of God's sanctifying work to make us more like Jesus for each and every time we confess and repent of our sin, we are being transformed a little more into the image of the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. Therefore the Christian life is to be a life of continual confession and cleansing and repeated repentance and restoration. We don't merely confess our sins once and we're done with it. As we grow and mature in Christ, we will increasingly desire to be more and more like Him. The result will be a life of continuing purification and and cleansing from sin (I John 2:28-3:9; II Cor. 6:11-7:1).Conviction of sin is for our good because it is God's means to grow a harvest of righteousness in us.How can the blood-washed child of God refuse the work of God that conforms us to the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and makes us more like Jesus?And we can take heart, because each and every time God shows us our sin, He points us to the cross, where Christ shed His blood and died for our sins once for all. In his mercy, our Father invites His children to come to the cleansing fountain of Christ's atoning blood for forgiveness and cleansing.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9.

Spurgeon tells us:
Do not be afraid to look at your sins, do not shut your eyes to them; for you to hide your face from them may be your ruin, but for God to hide his face from them will be your salvation. Look at your sins and meditate upon them until they even drive you to despair. "What!" says one, "until they drive me to despair?" Yes; I do not mean that despair which arises from unbelief, but that self-despair which is so near akin to confidence in Christ. The more God enables you to see your emptiness, the more eager will you be to avail yourself of Christ's fulness. I have always found that, as my trust in self went up, my trust in Christ went down; and as my trust in self went down, my trust in Christ went up, so I urge you to take an honest view of your own blackness of heart and life, for that will cause you to pray with David, "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Weigh yourselves in the scales of the sanctuary, for they never err in the slightest degree. You need not exaggerate a single item of your guilt, for just as you are you will find far too much sin within you if the Holy Spirit will enable you to see yourselves as you really are.

Remember that God is tender as He shows us our sin. He doesn't intend to humiliate us or irreparably crush us. His intent is not to permanently break us but to heal us and bind us up. God does not despise the broken and contrite heart. God is all about reviving and renewing and recreating us.God does not show us our sin to make a spectacle of us by putting us in the corner and shame us by putting a dunce cap on our head and pointing the finger at us. God does not wish to humiliate us by having us wear a scarlet letter and parading us through the village for all to see. God's showing us our sin is not cruelty but is a great mercy. But as He shows us our sin, there are times we can become overwhelmed by our sin and burdened by guilt. We must remember that our Father only shows our sin for our own good; His purpose is always to cleanse us and restore us. He does not intend that we remain down in the dust and rot under the weight of our sin.[2]

And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live? 11 Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? Ezekiel 33:10-11.

We must remember that our Father, the Gardener is always working for our good, to bring us to back to Calvary, to bring us to our great High Priest, the only mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. To revive us. To restore us. To renew us. God shows us our sin only with the intent of pouring out blessing on us:

To bring His purifying and healing waters to our sin-sick souls and filthy consciences so we might no longer be burdened by sin and guilt.

To restore us to fellowship with Him and with the brethren.

To continue His work of heart renovation, of forming Christ in us, that progressive work of sanctification that continues until the Day we will be like Him when we see Him face to face.
God does not despise the broken and contrite heartAny discussion of sin and guilt and the broken and contrite heart must include King David. David was a man after God's own heart. David was a man who was not afraid to look at his sins. And we know David's sins were many: Lusting after Bathsheba, coveting Uriah's wife, abuse of authority, rape, adultery, cover-up, deception, lies, murder. Sounds like a soap opera to me...actually it sounds like the infinite web of sin I've spun in my own life and often found myself entangled in...and I'm sure some of you feel the same way.For David's sin to be included in the Bible reminds us that of all the books ever written, the Bible alone gives us the only true assessment and accurate insight into the nature of man because God alone knows the heart of man and what is in man. If the Bible were merely the words of men, the authors certainly wouldn't have included all the gory details of the men and women of faith. Yet God includes those details just to make it clear to us that all have sinned and fall short of His glory, all with the intention of showing us the exceeding sinfulness of our sin and to show us our need for a Savior.

As God uncovered David's sin through the parable Nathan told him (notice how tenderly the LORD dealt with David in that incident), see how David responded when confronted with his sin:
David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.

Frank, honest confession. Bold confession. No excuses. No blame game. No hemming and hawing. No spinning. No justification. Just a simple and humble admission of sin: "I have sinned against the Lord." The man after God own heart confesses his sin in such a way. In Psalm 51, David calls his sin evil and confesses his bloodguiltiness. I find this utterly amazing for I know I too often do all I can to avoid admitting my sin or at least I try to minimize it. And we see that as we look at the so-called confessions of pubic figures. Human nature causes us to justify ourselves or make excuses and we don't often see our sin as evil or an offense against God as David did. The Holy Spirit alone brings us to the point where we can say, I have sinned against the Lord, where we call our sin evil and see ourselves as bloodguilty because the Spirit shows us how God views our sin and and God's judgment on our sin.And even more amazing than David's frank confession is how God's responds to David's bold confession:

And Nathan said to David, The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
Here we have David––the man who sinned big time. And here we have a holy and righteous God putting away David's sin! John Piper calls this "outrageous."[3] Indeed. Read the Lord's words of rebuke Nathan delivered to David:

Nathan said to David, You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 8 And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. 9 Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. II Samuel 12:7-10, emphasis mine.

Until I read this passage again recently I never noticed the word despised there.David was the man who despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight...David was the man who despised the Lord Himself...So, what does God do with this sinner who despised the Lord and despised the Lord's commands?Certainly God should have despised David in return, shouldn't He?But God doesn't despise David. God doesn't despise David's broken heart. Rather, the Lord comes to David and makes this bold proclamation:

The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.

O, how gracious and merciful our God is. God does not throw the book at David...and God does not throw the book at those who've trusted in Christ by faith.What's that all about anyhow?The Bible tells us God does not despise the broken and contrite heart...
...a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm 51:17.
And we also know that God comes to dwell with those who have broken and contrite hearts...

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:I dwell in the high and holy place,and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,to revive the spirit of the lowly,and to revive the heart of the contrite. Isaiah 57:15.

God comes to hearts that have been broken by sin and are heavy with contrition. As we confess our sin and admit that our righteousness is as filthy rags, as we admit we can do nothing to cleanse ourselves and we can do nothing to atone for our sin, as we admit we have been shapen in iniquity, and we can do nothing to save ourselves from our sin, that is where the Savior's mercy meets us. In His lovingkindness to us, instead of making us bear the wrath and punishment we deserve for our sin, God brings forgiveness, cleansing, healing, peace and restoration to the truly penitent heart.

The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
That is what God did with David. And that is what God does with all who have trusted in Christ.But, we must ask, What kind of God can really do that?The same God that gives us this promise:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9.

The same God Who provided His only begotten Son as a sin offering in our place, so He might be just in putting away our sin since He Himself provided the atonement for our sin. Christ was made sin for us so we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Romans 3:21-16.

God is just in passing over our sins because Christ provided atonement by his blood for our sins. Christ became sin for us and took the punishment we deserved so a holy God could be just and righteous in passing over our sins. The price and penalty were paid for our sins. God's wrath was satisfied in when Christ died in our place. When by faith we trust in Jesus, Christ's righteousness is credited to us. We are now justified in God's sight. God sees us as if we have not sinned."But," you may be asking, "what about David, because in the Old Testament, there was no incarnate Jesus, no crucifixion, no resurrection, no ascension?" As you read through the Old Testament, you can see that same principle of salvation by faith runs through the Old Testament just as it does in the New.[4] For example, see Romans 4 and Hebrews 11. In the Old Testament, salvation was by grace through faith, even though Jesus Christ had not yet come. In Romans 4,
Paul quotes David from Psalm 32:

And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7 Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. Romans 4:5-7.

David knew he could never atone for his own sins. He knew he could bring no sacrifice to make up for his sin. He knew forgiveness, justification, cleansing and heart restoration and renewal came only by faith because the man after God's own heart knows that God alone has power to save. David admitted his sin, he was stricken by guilt, he grieved over his sin and confessed his sins––yet at the same time David was confident God would provide complete cleansing and forgiveness of sins and heart renovation even though he knew full well that he deserved to be cast away from God's presence. (Please read through Psalm 51 to see how David views God as both righteous judge and merciful Savior.)David knew that the only sacrifice he could bring God was the sacrifice of a broken spirit and contrite heart:
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

David knew God would not despise his broken heart and contrite spirit even though he knew he had despised his Lord and his Lord's commands.

For Christ's sake, God always meets the broken heart and contrite spirit with total forgiveness and complete cleansing as He did with David and with Isaiah:

David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. II Samuel 12:13.Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for. Isaiah 6:6-7.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9.

When we continue to carry sin and guilt, we're carrying something we were never intended to carry and we cannot carry. God does not want us to be weary and heavy laden. We must stop trying to make up for our sins and to atone for our guilt. The only way to true freedom from sin and guilt is only through trusting in Christ's perfect righteousness to cover us.Spurgeon again (you can't have too much Spurgeon, can you?) writing on Psalm 51:7 (KJV), Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow:

This is a grand declaration of faith. I know not of such faith as this anywhere else. The faith of Abraham is more amazing; but, to my mind, this faith of poor broken-hearted David, when he saw himself to be black with sin and crimson with crime, and yet could say, "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow," is grand faith. It seems to me that a poor, trembling, broken-down sinner, who casts himself upon the infinite mercy of God, brings more glory to God than all the angels that went not astray are ever able to bring to him.

Salvation by grace through faith. The truly repentant soul, the broken and contrite heart God will not despise. The broken and contrite heart can make such grand declarations of faith, for even though we fully know we have despised God and despised His word to us, we know that our Savior's blood covers all our sins. Thank God that our loving and merciful God does not despise our broken and contrite hearts for Christ's sake. Amazing grace. Amazing mercy. Amazing love.David wholly cast himself on the mercy of God and Jesus invites us to do the same:
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. John 6:37.Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30.
David was thirsty for a righteousness only God could provide so he came to the Living Water to drink.Only as we see that our own righteousness is totally inadequate to save will we thirst for the perfect righteousness that Christ alone can provide.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. II Corinthians 5:21.

...Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. John 7:37.

The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let the one who hears say, Come. And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. Revelation 22:17.And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7 Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. Romans 4:5-8.

Come, ye thirsty, come, and welcome,God’s free bounty glorify;True belief and true repentance,Every grace that brings you nigh.[5]

Even though David had despised His LORD and the word of the LORD, even though David was a coveter, an adulterer, a schemer, a liar and a murderer, when David came to God with a broken and contrite heart, God did not despise David or his broken and contrite heart. Instead, in His outrageous mercy, God proclaimed to him:

The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.

Even though we have despised our LORD, even though we are ____, ____, ____ and ____
(fill in the blanks with your sins), when we come to God with broken and contrite hearts, God does not despise us and God does not despise our broken and contrite hearts. Instead, in His outrageous mercy, God proclaims to us:

The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
Let us wrap our hearts and minds around those words. Do not think that God's arm is too short to save, or to short to save you, to forgive you, to forgive your worst sins, to cleanse you of all unrighteousness...The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. I find these words so precious. Our Savior Jesus Christ died for sin once for all. He bore our sin on the tree. His perfect sacrifice fully satisfied God and made atonement for our souls. We can add nothing to it. All we need do is to receive His righteousness by faith. Spurgeon encourages us once more:
There may be one in this place who is afraid to think that Christ will save him. My dear friend, do my Master the honour to believe that there are no depths of sin into which you may have gone which are beyond his reach. Believe that there is no sin that is too black to be washed away by the precious blood of Christ, for he has said, "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men," and "all manner of sin" must include yours. It is the very greatness of God's mercy that sometimes staggers a sinner. Let me use a homely simile to illustrate my meaning. Suppose you are sitting at your table, carving the joint for dinner, and suppose your dog is under the table, hoping to get a bone or a piece of gristle for his portion. Now, if you were to set the dish with the whole joint on it down on the floor, he would probably be afraid to touch it lest he should get a cut of the whip; he would know that a dog does not deserve such a dinner as that, and that is just your difficulty, poor sinner, you know that you do not deserve such grace as God delights to give. But the fact that it is of grace shuts out the question of merit altogether. "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." God's gifts are like himself, immeasurably great. Perhaps some of you think you would be content with crumbs or bones from God's table. Well, if he were to gives me a few crumbs or a little broken meat, I would be grateful for even that, but it would not satisfy me; but when he says to me, "Thou art my son, I have adopted thee into my family, and thou shalt go no more out for ever;" I do not agree with you that it is too good to be true. It may be too good for you, but it is not too good for God; he gives as only he can give. If I were in great need, and obtained access to the Queen, and after laying my case before her, she said to me, "I feel a very deep interest in your case, here is a penny for you," I should be quite sure that I had not seen the Queen, but that some lady's maid or servant had been making a fool of me. Oh, no! the Queen gives as Queen, and God gives as God; so that the greatness of his gift, instead of staggering us, should only assure us that it is genuine, and that it comes from God. Richard Baxter wisely said, "O Lord, it must be great mercy or no mercy, for little mercy is of no use to me!" So, sinner, go to the great God, with your great sin, and ask for great grace that you may be washed in the great fountain filled with the blood of the great sacrifice, and you shall have the great salvation which Christ has procured, and for it you shall ascribe great praise for ever and ever to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God grant that it may be so, for Jesus' sake! Amen.

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted awaythrough my groaning all day long.4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah5 I acknowledged my sin to you,and I did not cover my iniquity;I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah Psalm 32:3-5.The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.

So, sinner, go to the great God, with your great sin, and ask for great grace that you may be washed in the great fountain filled with the blood of the great sacrifice, and you shall have the great salvation which Christ has procured, and for it you shall ascribe great praise for ever and ever to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God grant that it may be so, for Jesus' sake! Amen.Holy Father, so often we have despised You and Your Word. We confess that to You. Break our hearts over our sin. Give us humble and contrite hearts. Thank You that You do not despise the broken and contrite heart and that You dwell with those who have humble and contrite spirits. Draw us to Your cleansing fountain. Help us to lay aside our own righteousness and trust in Christ's perfect righteousness alone. Help us to come to the fountain poured from Immanuel's veins so we can be washed of all our sin and guilt and be restored and renewed. When we confess our sin as David did, I have sinned against the Lord...You have promised to cleanse us from all sin and purify us from all unrighteousness. Help us to trust by faith Your word to us, The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.

A broken heart, my God, my King,Is all the sacrifice I bring;The God of grace will ne’er despiseA broken heart for sacrifice.[6]

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,whose sin is covered.Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,and in whose spirit there is no deceit.Psalm 32:1-2