A Sinner's Broken Heart

A SINNER’S BROKEN HEART

Someone once said that when we see a brother or sister in sin, there are two things we do not know:

• First, we don’t know how hard they tried not to sin.

• Second, we don’t know about the demonic forces that may have attacked them.

• Oh, but wait – there is one other thing we do not know…and that is what would we have done if were in those same circumstances?

There is a story of a pastor who finished preaching his message on sin one Sunday, and he wanted to make sure his congregation understood. So he asked,

"Can anyone tell me what you must do before you can be forgiven of your sin?"

Suddenly from the back of the room, a small boy said, "You have to sin."

Obviously, the boy only understood the easy part.

In Union, NJ, there is a company called the Red Devil Tool Company. The Red Devil Tool Company was advertising that their tools can make your most difficult jobs very easy. (Oddly enough) this is their slogan,

“It’s easy with the devil.”

And that is very true with Satan. Satan wants to make sure that it is very easy for you to commit a sin, and his desire and his ambition is to destroy people like you and me. Satan often makes sin look easy, to appear attractive and something very pleasant to do.

Kay Arthur, a well known Christian speaker and book writer, put it this way:

If you tolerate sin in your life, that sin will not only take you farther than you wanted to go, it will keep you longer than you wanted to stay and it will cost you more than you thought you’d have to pay...

The Bible tells a lot of stories about how God’s people committed sin, but perhaps one of the best known sins recorded was the adulterous affair between King David and Bathsheba (found in II Samuel 11 & 12). The Prophet Nathaniel rebuked King David and he repented of his sin. What King David had to say about his sin in this morning’s text can be our way of looking deeply in the BROKEN HEART OF A SINNER.

Text: Psalm 51:1 – 9

Prayer:

This scripture is ideal for us to see two things:

The tragedy of sin, along with the forgiveness of God. Nothing can explain sin for us like God’s Word.

Notice that (unlike many people of our day) King David does not argue with himself about what he had done wrong. David knew that he was wrong, but he also knew that this was not just about one isolated sin with Bathsheba. His sin of adultery and murder was only the symptom of

A SINNER’S BROKEN HEART.

This chapter in Psalms records for us the lack of virtue in David’s heart. Virtue is best defined as having an obedience toward God. What David did was not a slip or a flaw in his character, but this was evidence of something far worse. David could now see the iniquity (i.e., “guilt” in other translations) in his heart. This was not something new in David’s life, he said that this guilt actually began when he was conceived (verse 5).

The Hebrew translation of “iniquity/guilt” defines it as a lifestyle that is evil, that is, an evil nature with us that will cause anyone to sin. Yes, I said “anyone”. Even a great man of God like King David can fall to sin.

There are many Christians that have tried to redefine sin and iniquity as being just a flaw in their character…you know something that just suddenly happened. It seems almost that if someone commits a sin, it is considered just a fluke…something unfortunate.

“Oh – I didn’t mean to do that…”

“Oops – what was I thinking?”

If that were the case then all we would have to do would be to apologize to whom ever, and go on with our routine lives. Perhaps comedian Richard Pryor said it well for all Americans back in the 1970’s,

“The devil made me do it!”

Many people would agree that when it comes to sin.

“I just can’t help it.” or “It’s really not a big deal!”

According to Psalm 51, sin is a big deal in God’s eyes. Here we see sin becoming something very horrifying in our hearts and our minds.

Sin Torments the Mind

Sin is not something simple we might suddenly become aware of in our daily lives, but it is the vexing of our soul. Sin is a controlling plague that grips the heart and pulls us down to the level of Satan and his demons.

Does this sound overly dramatic to you?

No - Not really. The man/woman/boy/girl cannot escape the grip of sin and iniquity unless they experience a reconciliation with God.