Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. I. AS SETTING BEFORE US MOST IMPORTANT TRUTH — that God delights not in sacrifice or burnt-offering, but in the principles and feelings of sincere and heartfelt piety. 1. It is established by every correct view of the Divine character. (1) God is a Spirit. Nothing can be acceptable to Him, as such, but spiritual service, the worship of the soul. (2) God is Lord of all. He made, preserves, and governs all; and whatever we present is first His own. (3) He is a God of love. He delighteth not to impoverish but to enrich His creatures. 2. It is illustrated by the great facts of revelation, and reflects on them, in return, a correspondent illustration and beauty. (1) Sacrifices were designed not to relieve the offender from the compunction and penitence naturally arising from the remembrance of his faults, by the easy substitution of a trifling mulet instead of a deep and heartfelt contrition, but to render that compunction and penitence more solemn and more lively; to impress those feelings of contrition more awfully upon the soul by a most vivid and affecting exhibition of the just desert of sin. When he beheld the dying victim whom he had made his substitute, he was there to discern the fearful extent of that condemnation he had merited, and thus, humbled and sorrowful, was to acknowledge and bewail his misery, as exposed to the righteous indignation of a just and holy God. (2) If in the sacrifices under the law it was not the mere pangs or death of the victim, but the moral dispositions with which it was presented, that God delighted in; if it was not in the mere punishment of sin, but its effect upon the conscience and the heart, that God took pleasure; then, in the sacrifice of Christ, we conceive this grand principle more abundantly established. And, oh, how full of a humbling and holy joy is the doctrine we have now endeavoured to explain, when we behold the necessity of our punishment for sin thus awfully manifested, and yet the fear of its endurance done away for ever by the offering of the Lamb of God! II. AS EXHIBITING THE PROPER INFLUENCE OF THIS GREAT TRUTH UPON THE FEELINGS OF A HUMBLE AND PENITENT MIND. 1. How forcibly does this language express that exalted estimate of the worth of pardon, which will ever be cherished by those who sincerely repent! 2. How strikingly it exhibits the penitent's humble sense of utter helplessness and incapacity for any service or offering of his own to procure the invaluable blessing! 3. How beautifully does the text describe a simple and grateful reliance upon the freeness of Divine mercy! Where is the man that weeps when no eye sees him, for the defilement of his degenerate nature? Let him not despair. Let him return unto the Lord. Let him lay his hand upon the great propitiation, and believe, and live for ever! (R. S. McAll, LL. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.WEB: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. |
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