Introduction

Good morning. This week's topic is "A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." This sermon is particularly relevant because it has been a long time since we have felt sorrow and contrition, hasn't it? Many feel quite good about themselves. When we feel good about ourselves, from leaders to co-workers, from co-workers to pastors, from pastors to assistant pastors, and from assistant pastors to brothers and sisters, I feel good in God's church, and then things happen.

Recently, many things have happened, and we need a broken and contrite heart. Why? Because we are so far from the image of Jesus. If we are complacent and self-satisfied, that is a problem. This is an attitude. You know that God looks at people's attitudes, and God chooses people based on their attitudes. Companies hire employees based on attitude, and attitude determines the outcome of many things.

In fact, God does not care much about a person's ability, nor does He care about a person's offerings, nor does He care whether you are beautiful. God does not care about the tall, rich, and handsome, nor does He care about the fair, rich, and beautiful. God does not care whether you make a small mistake or a big mistake. God cares about your attitude. The same is true for companies and churches. This is very important.

David killed Uriah through the hand of another and forcibly took his wife Bathsheba. Why? Because Bathsheba was pregnant with his child. If Uriah had returned from the battlefield, slept with his wife, and then returned to the battlefield, he would have saved his life, wouldn't he? When the child was born, everyone would wonder why the child looked so much like David, wouldn't they? Uriah was dark-skinned, while David was fair-skinned. How could the child look more and more like David? Fortunately, there was no paternity test at that time.

David killed Uriah and married Bathsheba. One would think that the story was over, but it was not. David lay in bed, and as soon as he closed his eyes, a group of demons came and said, "David, you are very bad." Then another group of demons came and said, "You killed Uriah, and you married Bathsheba." Then they were there, like a choir, with different voices, singing about David's sin. The demons were extremely happy.

David was uncomfortable at this time. He opened and closed his eyes and saw groups of demons and piles of voices. "David, you are terrible. You are terrible. You are not worthy of God's grace." I ask you, did David say, "I reject the accusations, reject the curses, and you retreat"? It was useless. Shouting was useless. Brothers and sisters, you must know that if you commit the sin of shedding innocent blood, the demons will definitely come to you.

But David had an attitude in his heart. This attitude was, "I want to repent. I will change." And not only did he change, but he also wrote Psalm 51. Our sermon topic is "A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." "I will change." This is an attitude. You thought it was just killing Uriah, and the demons came to torment him all day long, making him like Saul. I tell you, David was going crazy. If David had not come before God with a broken and contrite heart at this time, it would have been bad.

You know, some people, after something happens, explain to me again and again why they did it. In fact, they do not want to change. They want to prove that what they did was reasonable. Do you understand? It makes me upset. What are you explaining? Does your explanation mean that your mistake was justified?

If David had done what normal people do, what normal, foolish earthlings do, he would have said, "God, it's not my fault. You see, she was bathing in the daytime, and she showed herself to me. After I saw her, I couldn't control myself. That day, I also drank a bowl of mutton soup, and there was wolfberry in it. I couldn't control myself at all. Then I sent someone to bring her over, and we slept together. After we slept together, she became pregnant. Otherwise, how could I have killed her husband Uriah? It's not my fault."

If David had said this to God, it would have been over. David would have gotten Saul's disease, mental illness. In fact, during this period, killing Uriah and marrying Bathsheba had come to an end, but the spirit of mental illness came. Everyone does not know that mental illness and depression are very painful diseases, do you know? Nothing happens, but you are in pain. Can you understand that? It is not a pain in the hip, knee, cervical spine, or a headache. It is none of those. It is just extreme pain.

How can you not be in pain when the demons come? Why did the demons come? Because David did not confess his sin. If you do not confess your sin, God has no way to blot out your transgressions. To show his broken and contrite heart, David wrote Psalm 51 and published it to the world for the whole nation to read and learn. What should they learn? Learn that David did something very foolish. Do you understand? He himself said, "I want to tell the whole nation about my foolishness, so that the whole nation knows how foolish it was and how precious sorrow and contrition are." This is David.

Do you think David only had this habit after killing Uriah and marrying Bathsheba? No, he did not only have this habit at this time. He had this habit since he was a child. If I do something wrong, it is my fault, and I will correct it. Can everyone understand? People should develop this habit from childhood.

I think we have done many wrong things, but we do not have sorrow and contrition. When we do something wrong, do you have sorrow and contrition? Give sorrow and contrition ten levels: level one sorrow and contrition, level two sorrow and contrition, level three sorrow and contrition, level ten sorrow and contrition. What level of sorrow and contrition are you at?

If you are cheated, do you have sorrow and contrition? You are only thinking about the money you were cheated out of. You do not have time to care about sorrow and contrition, right? You hate the cheater to death, right? David had this attitude when he was a child. Do you know how he developed it? A person's character is set by the age of three. If a child is stubborn at the age of three, he will definitely be foolish when he grows up. If he can adjust at the age of three, find a way to correct him from childhood. Because a person's character is set by the age of three, David was very powerful from childhood.

Remember, I really cannot explain clearly why David had this attitude of repentance and constant adjustment from childhood. But I tell you, it can be learned. As for how he did it before, we do not know, but it is good to do it this way, isn't it?

I had this habit when I was a child. I am not stubborn. I do not have that stubborn streak in me. Speaking of stubbornness, there are all kinds of stubborn people. When driving with navigation, the navigation says to keep going forward, and you will reach the sea. "I passed by here yesterday. Who tore down the bridge?" He said the bridge was torn down. What kind of brain is that? I tell you, stubborn people are really like that.

When I was a child, I liked to correct things. If things were not right, I would work hard to correct them. Later, I tell you, when I grew up, I suffered a lot less because I had developed a habit. "Why is this thing so crooked? Tear it down and rebuild it, right? Why is this code written so badly? Tear it down and rewrite it."

It is useless to modify the original set of bad code if you are not willing to change it. I must tell you that the same is true for doing things. If the foundation is not right, it is useless to put anything on top. Children study, and then they want to go to college. What are you going to do in college? "No, I just want to go to college." After you graduate from college and go to work, what will you do? In college, someone can help you write your assignments, and you can pay them. But after you graduate, who will help you at work? In my words, if you pay someone a salary of 10,000 yuan, and you hire someone who is worth 20,000 yuan to do the work for you, you will lose 10,000 yuan a month. Can you afford to lose that much? Isn't that just being rich and stupid?

So, brothers and sisters, we must know that we must lay a good foundation from childhood. If something is wrong, we must adjust it quickly. You know, what was David sorrowing and repenting about? After killing Uriah, he slept until late in the morning. Why was he so happy? Because he felt so good about himself. "All the surrounding areas are stable. All the surrounding nations have been subdued by me. I have the strongest army, the best marshal, the best generals, the best colonels, and the best lieutenants."

Then David drank some wine at night and slept well. The next morning, he woke up and looked at the clock. Nine o'clock, and he went back to sleep. Ten o'clock, and he went back to sleep. Two o'clock, and he went back to sleep. He woke up at four o'clock and stretched. Then he went to the balcony to stretch, and he opened his eyes and saw a blurry image of a woman bathing. The more he looked, the clearer it became. She was next door to his house.

But David had not made many mistakes in his life. He only felt good about himself once, and that brought trouble. When he was a child, he often felt that he was not good enough. I guess little David did not start herding sheep at the age of seventeen. He probably started herding sheep at the age of eleven or twelve. My father told me a story that was very good. He said that someone was herding cattle and passed by a school. The teacher was giving a lesson to the students inside. He was very envious. But because he had no money, he had to herd cattle while others were learning in the classroom. He squatted outside the classroom and listened to a few sentences. At that time, my father hoped that all of us children could study hard.

David was also herding sheep at the age of eleven or twelve. I ask you, if an eleven- or twelve-year-old child carries a sickle and goes to herd sheep, and a wolf comes, can the eleven- or twelve-year-old child beat the wolf? If the sheep is taken away by the wolf, what will David do? What will he do? How will he explain it to his family? The eleven- or twelve-year-old child will definitely be wiping his nose. What is he doing with tears and snot? He is praying to God. He knows that there is a God. God can help him.

Next, this is David's biography. As he was crying, God gave him a revelation: make a slingshot. The slingshot has a rope and a piece of sheepskin. Click, and he made a slingshot and picked up a stone. Ah, he threw it. Wow, it flew out well. Do you think he only threw stones when the wolf came? No. There were several mangoes on the tree. You could also say they were apples or kiwis.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. He took the stone and threw it. It's like when we were kids and used slingshots to hit birds. The bird was as big as a small apple. He threw the stone and missed. He missed to the left. He adjusted to the right. He missed to the right. He adjusted to the left. He missed high. He adjusted down. He missed low. He adjusted up.

Later, he hit the target every time. Where did that come from? It came from changing. Unlike some of our brothers and sisters, when they do something wrong, they just leave it like that. They do a terrible job, and they are all smiles, right? If you do a job like that, can you make money? It would be good if people didn't ask you to pay them back.

What is change? If I am off to the left, I adjust to the right. If I am off to the right, I adjust to the left. That is called change. Do you understand? That is called change. If you do a terrible job and you are all smiles, have you changed? If you haven't changed, you will still be the same smiling person next time. As a result, you adjust better and better. God is with David.

God likes this kind of person. I ask you, after he finished practicing, the wolf came. The wolf came with a lamb in its mouth and ran away. Can you outrun David's stone? The wolf was killed. It had a lamb in its mouth. Did the stone hit the lamb or the wolf? It hit the wolf. Whether it was a black bear, a brown bear, a lion, a tiger, or whatever, he could deal with them because he had the most advanced weapon of that era in his hand.

Now, when you fight a war, you see missiles that can travel thousands of kilometers or hundreds of kilometers. Do you think you just send someone over, press a button, and it's over? At that time, you had to have some long-range capability. Now it's called beyond visual range. That's what David did at that time. How much suffering did he endure in the whole process? How many tears did he shed? How many times did he wipe his nose? I don't know. I can't count. He was only eleven or twelve years old. It was very hard, but he developed a lifelong skill.

He was alone, tending sheep. Hmph, my brothers stayed at home. They bullied me, making me tend the sheep alone. David did not dwell on these things, nor did he think that way. He focused on tending the sheep well. What good are you if you cannot tend the sheep well? Isn't that right? People talk about inheriting the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. How well did Jacob tend his sheep? No one under heaven could tend sheep better than Jacob, understand?

He did not take his work lightly. If he made a mistake, he corrected it. If something was not right, he fixed it. He corrected everything he could. We need this attitude, and God chooses such people. If you want to be chosen by God, you must constantly learn from your mistakes. If something is not done right, learn from it. If something else is not done right, learn from it and correct it. This is called repentance.

If you ruin something by doing it wrong, and then ruin something else by doing it wrong again, and keep ruining things, what can you do? You are good for nothing, aren't you? You mess up everything you do. You do not listen when told, you do not understand when you hear, you do not act when you understand, you make mistakes when you act, you do not correct your mistakes, and you are not convinced when you correct them. What am I supposed to do with you?

It was not that David did not have many voices in his head. When he was struggling, there were many voices saying, "You should give up. My father does not like me. They all bully me." There were many such thoughts. But David did not obey these voices. What did he obey? He obeyed God's will. A child of eleven or twelve could already begin to live in a way that pleased God. So, a person must be flexible and willing to adjust. Blessed are the humble, what does it mean to be humble? It means correcting what is not right.

Later, David was chosen, and Samuel came. Samuel was the most famous person of that time. If the highest spiritual leader of the area came to your house, they did not even notify David. His brothers all came, and they looked good on the surface, but God said no.

If they all looked good, why were none of them chosen? Samuel asked Jesse, "Do you have any other sons?" There was a young son tending sheep. Samuel insisted, "Bring him back." As soon as he came back, it was him. This was the kind of person God wanted. Remember, do not be stubborn, do not think you are great, do not think you are good. Do not think that people are always wronging you. From a young age, David, through tending sheep, through dealing with lions, tigers, and wolves, developed a character that pleased God through these trials.

This character that pleased God was chosen by God. From a young age, before he was chosen, he knew he needed a sorrowful and contrite heart, at least a little humility and repentance. To be a blessed person, you must know that you often do not get things right. I tell you, the people I meet are often very confident in themselves. They often think they are doing well and that it is always someone else's fault.

Some time ago, I met a businessman whose son, in his forties, had never earned any money, only spent it. Understand? And he was full of excuses, saying his father was wrong in this and that. Do you not find it strange? He thought he was doing great, but he had done nothing but spend money his whole life. A second-generation rich kid, ah, I often sigh.

The reason David was chosen and later became King David was because he was truly a learner when he was young. I ask you, when you are eleven or twelve years old and tending cattle and sheep, when do you have time to go to school? Did he not learn while tending cattle and sheep? Isn't that right? Later, David became a poet, the greatest poet of all time.

Many of the Psalms were written by David, and many of them were self-taught. David had this sorrowful and contrite heart. If I do not do something right, I correct it. If you want to be a programmer, if I do not get it right, I correct it. I fix the program, isn't that right? If I do not do something right, I correct it. I must tell you, people must learn to observe this and observe that. In fact, people absorb knowledge themselves.

Remember, many times things are turned upside down. Why are they turned upside down? Because it is learning, not teaching. If you just teach your family, in the end, their brains will turn to mush, isn't that right? People are not taught, they are learned. Why is it called learning? Study hard, make progress every day, not teach hard.

Listen to the lectures carefully, understand? So, David learned this way. I tell you, people can learn whether they have the conditions or not. In fact, I have come this far through a lot of hard work. I learned by stumbling and crawling. Many times, no one tells you, you just secretly watch. Isn't that hard work? In the workplace, who is willing to teach you? Am I right?

Who is willing to teach you? You learn by stumbling and falling on your own. I want to tell stories, and I can tell you many stories that will encourage you. My English is not good, my content is not good, nothing is good, but I will learn. Our brothers and sisters must know that David had this attitude, so God chose him. It is a matter of attitude.

Correcting mistakes is a matter of course, isn't it? If I do not know how to do something, I learn it. If I do something wrong, I correct it. So, when it came to the matter of Bathsheba, he made a mistake. When he was about to become mentally ill, he said, "This will not do. I cannot continue like this, or I will be in trouble. I do not want to become mentally ill. I want the whole country to know that I stole someone else's wife." Understand? "I will correct it." This is called attitude.

Sometimes, when you say it, your heart aches a little. I tell my colleagues that I need them, not to explain, explain, explain, explain why I am being foolish. I need them to tell me in one sentence, "Oh, that is wrong." "What is right?" "That is right." That is what I need. I can spend time teaching, I can put in the effort to demonstrate for you. But if a person does not have a learning attitude, does not have an attitude of repentance, nothing can be done.

"Are you stupid?" "You are really a stupid person." After I say that, "Oh, I am stupid. Teacher, how can I become smart?" That is what I want. What? You just think I am stupid? "We sisters are both stupid people." What kind of brain is that? Is it wrong to say you are stupid? If you are told you are stupid, why do you not correct it? The attitude is wrong.

So, God chose David, chose a person with the right attitude. What attitude? Correct your mistakes, isn't that right? Face is worthless. When David went to the battlefield and killed Goliath, did you see David being arrogant? No. Because he always had an attitude of continuous growth.

David had an attitude of continuous growth. From killing Goliath, to leading troops in battle, starting as a commander of one, just himself, then a commander of ten, then a commander of a hundred, then a commander of a thousand, leading a thousand soldiers to fight. Did you know any of that beforehand? Did you not learn it all later? He killed Goliath with the slingshot he had practiced with as a child, and he was victorious in every battle he led.

So, brothers and sisters, if you want to live out the image of God, live out the blessed life that pleases God, you must learn. Isn't that right? What can you do if you do not learn? I ask you, did you grow last year? Did you grow the year before last? Have you grown in the past five years? Or are you still the same? What have you grown in? You have done nothing, solved no problems. How can you grow?

Later, David married Saul's daughter. To marry Saul's daughter, he had to pay a bride price: two hundred Philistine foreskins, the skin from their genitals. Ah, is that not making things difficult for David? Did David know that Saul wanted to harm him? Yes, but his attitude was right, understand? We should learn from his attitude.

Later, David was hunted down, and he always had an attitude of correcting his mistakes. If I have the opportunity, I will take you to read the Psalms that David wrote during his escape. "My tears have soaked my bed, have floated my couch." The description of a person's difficult state is vivid. Isn't that right? How much struggle, how much pain, but David turned this into his best learning place, his best classroom.

That was not a university of society, that was a university of escape and persecution. "I am a sinner, I am not a good person, I am a sinner. God, when will you save me?" That kind of struggle, discomfort, hopelessness, disappointment, worry. Sometimes you even want to curse, isn't that right? You really want to say something. God said a curse word. Hmm, stop. God is always right.

Later, as I told you in the last lecture, David fled to Achish, the king of the Philistines. He did not complain. He did not complain, he did not blame others. He only thought of a way, the only way he could think of at the time. David had the opportunity to kill Saul, but he only cut off a piece of his robe, and he regretted it. If you look closely at David's life, "I did not do this right, I did not do that right, I will correct everything I did not do right." That is the logic.

Do you want to be a smart person? It is very simple, correct what you did not do right. Later, David almost killed Nabal, Abigail's husband, the stingy man. But suddenly he woke up, "I will correct it, I am wrong." Just that one sentence, isn't that right? Correct your mistakes. "I spent all night on my phone yesterday, I will correct it," correct it with sorrow and repentance. "There is a lot of dirt inside me, God, cleanse me."

There are too many things we need to adjust in our lives, and the most important thing is to have an attitude of adjustment. Having an attitude of adjustment is not difficult at all. In my heart, there is always a deep desire, a desire for everyone to please God, for everyone to be blessed by God in His presence. Of course, if you are sick, call me, and I will be happy to pray for you. Because that is my job. But I am even happier when you are blessed after you repent. I prefer to hear your stories of being blessed. At this time, we begin to learn from David.

Scripture

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. (Psalm 51:16-17)

Prayer

Let us pray together, preparing our hearts at this time. If you have a sorrowful and contrite heart, you are David. If you have a sorrowful and contrite heart, you are a person who pleases God. Blessing begins from this point. Prepare your hearts at this time and pray with me.

God, let my heart turn back to you. Let us be softened. No longer stubborn, no longer clinging to our own foolishness, clinging to our own ignorance. God, we often make mistakes, but we rarely have a sorrowful and contrite heart. God, today I ask you to create in me a clean heart, so that I can see my mistakes, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. God, let me be able to say, "I was wrong, I will correct it." Not only in attitude must we adjust, but in every matter, great and small, we must have this change, so that we can live out your image.

God, you do not delight in sacrifice. If you delighted in it, I would have offered it long ago, but what I want to offer is a sorrowful and contrite heart. God, I am still far from your image, now correct me, adjust me. Lord, you are the God who saves me, you will save me forever, please add strength. Lord, I need you, I need you for all my life. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray, Amen.

Scripture Background

This passage is actually David's reflection. If you do not know how to write a reflection, David wrote the standard reflection. What did he reflect on? He reflected on the fact that he had done something wrong and felt bad about it. You know, David did not write here, "Ah, they are all accusing me." Should you not be accused? You did such a thing, killed Uriah, and took Uriah's wife. Uriah had not even divorced his wife, and you had a child with her. Do you not feel that you are very immoral? Isn't that right? "I feel very immoral." "Oh, accusations, I do not listen to accusations, I reject your curses, I reject your accusations." It is useless, nonsense. Isn't that right?

So David disbelieved, and I reject your accusations. Should I be accused? What does "reject" mean? Rejection is useless. Why? Because these demons are constantly harassing him, causing him mental distress and discomfort. What happens then? He discovers that rebuking the accusing spirits doesn't work. Only repentance is effective. He doesn't try to explain to God, "It's not like this, it's like that," justifying his sins. It's meaningless.

We, brothers and sisters, must adjust. Stop explaining. Explaining back and forth just irritates me and makes you feel bad. So, get your attitude right. I was wrong, I will change. Do you understand? Actually, you've made many mistakes, haven't you? We've made far more mistakes than David. If things aren't right, I'll change them. No arguing, no explaining.

This passage speaks most about David's understanding of God. What do you want, God? What do you like, God? What can you do, God? Right? He also wrote about his self-awareness and reflection. I am a sinner, I was a sinner from my mother's womb, I was born in sin. Do you have this vision? Sin is crouching at my door. I subdued this sin several times, but this time I failed again.

I remembered some of my weaknesses and demonic oppression. No, I am a king, I don't want to be humble, announcing to the whole nation, with a loudspeaker. I am David, I have sinned, I have sinned. I stole someone's wife, I killed someone's husband, and now his wife is pregnant with my child. Shameful, so shameful, how can I say it? Right?

David told this story. It's embarrassing to tell it, can he still rule Israel? Yes, why? Because the reason is simple. I will teach your way to transgressors, and sinners will return to you. Do you understand? Because governing Israel is not about David putting on a very moral and noble image, but relying on God. Amazing, so amazing.

So this honest attitude is the best of all attitudes. So I tell you, if people want to come before God and ask for God's help, don't make up stories. You can make up stories when you go for an interview, but when you face God, be honest, right? Don't cover up, it's useless, you can't hide it. God's eyes see throughout the earth. What kind of person are you? God knows everything. We have a saying, "I know how many eggs you lay with a twitch of your tail," meaning I see through this person.

The most feared thing in life is rigidity. So this time David committed a sin, killed someone, shed blood, took someone's wife, and had an affair, and had a child. I ask you, can God solve his problem at this time? Yes, absolutely. What God really wants is a contrite heart. A contrite heart God will not despise, God will never despise.

Brothers and sisters, follow me, don't say, "What is contrition?" Don't interpret this contrition in words. Let's get real. I didn't do this right, I will deal with myself severely and I will change. I tell you, all the great people in this world have corrected themselves from many, many wrong processes, whether they are great scientists or physicists. When Musk launches a satellite, he has to correct many technical details. The most feared thing in life is rigidity.

We Are Born Sinners

No matter how good you are, you are still a sinner. If you can have this vision, then your repentance is endless. What I mean by endless is not that I hope you are like those traditional people, "I am guilty, I am guilty, I will change," but you just don't change. You have to know that you were born a sinner. If this thing is wrong, then we will change on this thing. If that thing is wrong, then we will change on that thing, and correct them one by one.

This sentence of mine is powerful. We are born sinners, we are born needing God. We are born knowing that we are not good enough. Knowing that we are not good enough, stop insisting on the ideas of sinners. Insisting on the ideas of sinners will only make things worse, it's useless. So we are born sinners. What does David say in the scriptures? He said, "I was born in sin, and in sin did my mother conceive me."

Do you all understand? That is, we are born as people who attract ghosts. You are born as a person who attracts ghosts, what to do now? Now, change our set of things that attract ghosts into a Godly logical system. Our change is that simple. So I was born this sinner, what do I do later? I must constantly learn how to change, right? David was not born a righteous man, he was born a sinner.

But this sinner, from the time he was one, two, three, four years old until he was eleven or twelve years old herding sheep. Which one was not learned by him? Which one was not adjusted by him? The set of logical systems installed in him was not what he was born with, but what he learned later. So being born a sinner, we are all the same. But do you have an attitude of repentance later? Have you dealt with yourself severely?

Those who have not dealt with themselves, who have not dealt with the indulgence of the flesh. He can't go on, because people don't change. So life is born with sin, all learned the day after tomorrow. Fearing God is learned, God's words are learned, God's logical system is learned. This is wrong, then start to know to learn to adjust.

God Is the God Who Saves Me

Then what if I am born a sinner? Because God is the God who saves me.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. (Psalm 51:1-4)

Do you think that judging you is judging you? No. God says you are a sinner to save you. Sometimes I also say a sentence, I say when you are stupid, I hope you become smart. Do you think I'm done saying stupid and you're stupid? No. If you think I want to reject you and curse me, what to reject? After rejecting, isn't it still a stupid person?

So our brothers and sisters must know our own transgressions. You must know that our sins are always before us, sin is crouching at our door, we don't need God, what do we do? Without God, then sin is before us. Ghosts are often on us. How can people be comfortable when ghosts are on people? It must be uncomfortable, in this process we are sinners, but God can save us.

What God Wants Is an Attitude of Sorrow and Contrition

What God wants is an attitude of sorrow and contrition, not sacrifice. God, I give you a chicken, I give you a duck, a pig, or a braised pig. It's useless, all useless. Because what God wants is a contrite heart, a contrite heart God will not despise. When you come before God, don't do anything else. Just do this, I am a sinner, I often do wrong, I do almost everything wrong, I change. God, you tell me what is right. Isn't that the end of it? Is it that complicated? I just sigh, people, in this life, the things that are done right are really few.

Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. (Psalm 51:14-17)

What a good God, people begin to come before God with such an attitude. Never come before God and say: God, look at me, I'm pretty good. If you are pretty good, you will be bad. I give you a suggestion, you think about whether this is the case. Today passes one day, tomorrow passes one day, always feel that your spiritual life is good, that is about to happen, do you understand?

Before David wrote Psalm 51, he always felt that he was good. In fact, he can boast about a lot of things, I killed Goliath, I am very great, right? When I was herding sheep, the sheep were not taken away by lions and tigers, I am very great. Now I lead Israel to become the king of Israel, when I was in exile, I did not commit a crime very much, now I have become the king of Israel, as long as I make a move, the enemy will be defeated, I am still good.

Then why is this happening? Because God is pleased with me, pleased, pleased, and slept until sunset the next afternoon. That sunset, a woman's body was exposed in front of him, and it was over. All his goodness was destroyed at once. Only then did he realize that he was a sinner, only then did he realize that God is the God who saves us, and only then did he begin to have a contrite heart.

So never feel that you are good, I have to tell you, give you a bottom line. My heart is often full of worries, really not an exaggeration. This thing is not right, God, where should the church go at this stage? What should the church do at this stage? Which part of me is not right, my heart is full of this heart to make things right. For example, someone says, you haven't made this right, I have many places that I haven't made right. Isn't this working hard to make it right?

This attitude should become an essence of Chinese Church Mingding Doctrine, never feel that you are good. Maybe you have a lot of bright resumes, a lot of highlights. If David wants to write out his resume, there are also many highlights. But what can it explain? It can only explain one thing, that is, in the past, we were protected by God, we are still sinners, do you understand?

What God Loves Is Inner Honesty

Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place. (Psalm 51:6)

Listen to these words, when people come before God, don't play tricks. You can fool anyone, you can't fool God. Never play tricks with God, you must be honest inside. One is one, two is two. Don't explain what you did, I am guilty, I deserve to die, I need your salvation, I must have a contrite heart inside.

At this time, begin to come with heart and honesty. It is not that you come before God to boast about what you did right in the past. Why are some brothers and sisters becoming stupid? The husband said: Look, you did this wrong. She said: I did that right. What is this called? Can people not become stupid? Don't explain, I did this wrong, then I was wrong, I misunderstood. In fact, it is very normal that I often misunderstand in the past, right? Come before God with heart and honesty, no matter what, it is just a sinner.

Summary

I want to make a summary, a contrite heart, God does not despise. If you have been sick, suffered, and still have no contrite heart in this life, it is a bit silly. If people have been deceived, suffered losses, and have no contrite heart in this life, it is a bit silly. A person often does things wrong, and the work is all grimacing, and feels very normal, it is a bit silly, because of the lack of an attitude of sorrow and contrition. May God bless everyone, Amen.