Build Thou the Walls of Jerusalem 1986

I'd like to begin by reading the very same passage we sang together from Psalm 51, those first, it has the first five verses in the hymnal, and in the old King James it has the first four, but take your choice. Same words. Psalm 51 verses one through four.

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgression and my sin as ever before thee and before me.

I never forget my sin. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. But thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and clear when thou judgest.

This psalm was written doubtless. After David had sinned with Bathsheba and then had arranged to have her husband Uriah killed. David keeps on going, like a good Christian, so to speak, goes to church every Sunday, you might say, tithes, you know, sings praises to God, everything's going fine.

Nobody nails him on this. After all, he's the king, you don't want to get your head chopped off. And he doesn't even realize that he's dried up inside.

But he is. Finally, Nathan the prophet comes to him and says, you're the man. Nathan pronounces the judgment of God, a word of judgment on David.

Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house because you despise me, says God, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. You have all kinds of wives, David. Uriah had only one and you took her.

From this point on, as far as the externals of the kingdom are concerned, it's downhill for David. Civil war, palace intrigue, multiplied problems. But this judgment of God upon David's life brings him down to a place where God can do things in this man, David, which he could never do before.

This is the beginning of an inner cleansing of a brokenness, which is absolutely essential if anything of any value is to flow from this man. Psalm 51 is the record of this change, which takes place in David. Through which God builds his kingdom, even while David's kingdom is shaking and wobbling.

And so we read on at verse 10 of this same song. Created me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee. When I am right with you, O God, then you can use me.

Make me right with you, O God. When David begins to pray like that, then the purposes of the kingdom of God can find some outlet through this man's life. David could look out over the city of Jerusalem from his palace window and see his achievements.

Marvelous things which were accomplished through the strong leadership of David. Right before his eyes gleaming buildings, sturdy walls, mighty armies, thriving commerce, all this. Really the result of David's leadership.

Ah, but it's all already beginning to decay. His own son, Absalom, is arranging a conspiracy. The kingdom is about to split because this kingdom actually is flesh.

It's the work of flesh. Accept the Lord, build a house, they labor in vain that build it. Accept the Lord, keep the city, the watchmen wake if but in vain.

David now begins to see that what's really needed is a Jerusalem built by God, a kingdom ruled by the spirit of the living God. And for this to happen, David has to humble himself. David has to come down in a way he has never done up to now and submit to the holiness of God.

And so then we read on in this psalm, in verse 16, For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it. Not the outside stuff anymore. Thou delightest not in burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart of God thou wilt not despise. Do good and thy good pleasure unto Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem.

In other words, if Zion, this city is going to be built up, if this city, if the real Jerusalem is going to thrive, is going to be done only when we offer to him a broken spirit. Today, the Jerusalem referred to in this psalm is the body of Christ on earth, including the body of Christ here. Like David, we can see many achievements.

Like David, we are tempted to think that we are the ones who build the church. We become frustrated, impatient, sometimes quite angry when other people stand in the way of our efforts to build. What's the matter with these people? I mean, we know what needs to be done.

Why are they frustrating me? Why are they getting in our way? Why can't they fit in? How come there are so many bottlenecks? The truth is that our efforts, yes, even our achievements, are a heat rinse instead of a hell. Because, even with our good intentions and all our skill, we have not yet come down to the place where we are offering to God the one thing he must have if he's going to build the real Jerusalem through us, a broken spirit and a contrite heart. For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it up.

Thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion.

Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. I take my hands off the ark. Now I step back, Lord.

I remove my shoes. I bow down before you, and I submit. Lord God, do whatever you have to do to me.

I humble myself. I present to you, as much as I'm able, a broken spirit and a contrite heart. Build the city of Jerusalem.

Build the walls of Zion any way you want to through me. If there's any lesson the Spirit of God has been giving to this congregation as a body and to all of us as members of that body, it's that he will do powerful things through us. He will energize us with awesome power as a body of believers when we offer to him a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

And until we do, all the skills we feel we have will be of little use. Moving into Matthew chapter 16, starting at verse 13. Now when Jesus came to the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do men say the Son of Man is? And they said, Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

Jesus said to them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon, son of John, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, the rock.

And on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

I'm going to build my church, says Jesus. I'm going to build it through you, based on your testimony that I am the Christ, based on your submission to my lordship, based on your giving to me a broken spirit and a contrite heart. And that's what was happening at that moment.

Peter was giving to Jesus a broken spirit. His blustering ego was now coming down into submission to the Lord. And he is saying, You're the Christ.

You're the Messiah. I submit to you. But that's hard for Peter to do.

It's hard for us to do. And so in the next verses we read, from that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, God forbid, Lord, this shall never happen to you.

But he turned and said to Peter, saying, Peter, get behind me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me, for you are not on the side of God, but of men. See, now it's no longer the submissive spirit of Peter, a broken spirit, a contrite heart.

Now it's Peter the manipulator, Peter the politician, Peter who always has to have things go his way. Even God's things have to go his way. And as long as it's like that, nothing.

See, what Peter is doing now, he's not using the keys of the kingdom. He's imposing his flesh on the kingdom of God. You know, and when we impose our flesh on the kingdom of God, intelligent, wise, skilled as it may be, we don't build up the body, we tear it down.

Even if it's a $10 million building we put up, even if it's a missionary enterprise that encircles the globe, if it's not growing out of a broken spirit and a contrite heart, it's death. God won't be able to use Peter again until Peter comes down, until Peter humbles himself. And so, this is what happens in the next verses which follow here.

Matthew 17, after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John, his brother, and led them up on a high mountain apart. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garment became white as light. And Peter, here he comes again, draws up the plan.

Lord, it is well for us to be here. Let us make here, if you like, I hope, of course you'll like it, three booths. One for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah.

Peter with his plan. Peter building a body his way. Won't work.

While Peter's still speaking, God has to interrupt this man. A bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were filled with awe.

But Jesus came and touched them and said, Rise, have no fear. And they lifted up their eyes. When they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus only.

And when they lifted up their eyes and saw no one but Jesus, now their hearts are fixed on Jesus. And Peter is down again now. He's submissive.

He's got a broken spirit again. Now God can use him. It's exactly the same with us.

The only valid thing which God is doing in this place is what God is doing in this place. The only building up of the body of Christ is that which is done by the Lord himself. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion.

Build thou the walls of Jerusalem on this rock. I will build my church and the gates of death shall not prevail against it. And the people, of course he uses people.

The people he uses are not the hot shots, the organizers, the smooth talkers, but the men and women, whoever they are, who have free characteristics. And these are the only ones God can use. Those who, first of all, offer to him a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

Two, those who submit to the Son. And three, those who listen to the Son. When these three characteristics, in fact, mark our lives, not just for five minutes, not just until the service is over, but day in and day out, then God can use us.

And only then, God will build his church through us when we offer to him a broken spirit and a contrite heart. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem.

It's quite clear here. The walls of Jerusalem will be built. Zion will be raised up only through the working of God, moving through people who have a broken spirit and a contrite heart, who are repentant, who continuously repent.

Not just the day they got saved. Not just the day they were filled with the Holy Spirit. But day in and day out, they walk on this earth with a repentant spirit.

A strange thing happened. In the plains of Jericho, before Joshua led the armies of Israel to one victory, Joshua looks up one day and he sees ahead of him a man with a drawn sword. So Joshua starts walking toward him and says, Are you for us or for the enemy? No, says the stranger.

But as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come. Joshua understands that he is now dealing. He's looking into the face of the angel of the Lord.

And Joshua falls on the ground and starts to worship. And then he says, What will you have your servant do? In other words, give me my orders for it. And he's expecting, no doubt, for the Lord to say, Well, Joshua, first of all, I want you to take Jericho.

And I want you to take the city of Ai. And watch out for those Gibeonites, because they're going to come and pretend that they've come from a far country. You know, watch out for this and that.

And he's got his notebook out. He's taking down his orders. But instead of the Lord saying, I want you to take Jericho, the Lord says, Take off your shoes.

You're standing on holy ground. In other words, humble yourself, get down there and give me a broken spirit and a contrite heart. Joshua, I can't use you to conquer this promised land.

And Joshua obeys. He does it. Joshua cannot conquer the promised land until he first submits with a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

Our problem is that we want to go in there and take the promised land before we ever learned how to take off our shoes. We will not be of any use to the redemptive purpose of God here or anywhere on earth until we learn what it means to give to God a broken spirit and a contrite heart. To repent of our vanity.

Vanity meaning thinking that I'm something when I'm nothing. To repent of our self-righteousness. That's obvious what that is.

We all know what it means. In everybody else, when you see it in the other guy, figure it's in you too. In our arrogance.

Take off our shoes. Come down before God. Lord, here I am.

Take me. Now, if there's anybody here who doesn't really know what it means to give God a broken spirit and a contrite heart, all you have to do is ask, Lord God, I don't know what this means. Help me to have a broken spirit.

And you will. It'll be a little painful, but it will be worth it. A prayer we could all do well to pray afresh today.

Give me a broken spirit, a contrite heart. Create me a clean heart, oh God, whatever it's going to cost. Secondly, God will build his church through us when we submit to the son.

When our lives say you are the Christ, the son of the living God, when our lives make that confession, when we admit and confess by the way we live that Jesus is indeed Lord, that I'm not telling him what to do, he's telling me what to do. Then the church is built, the gates of death are broken open, the captives are set free, the lost sheep are brought home. But the minute I forsake that again and I start telling Jesus what to do and everybody else what to do, I dry up.

And then we become like Samson with a crew cut. And we walk around still thinking we're mighty, and everybody in the world knows we're not. And we finally, through much humiliation, discover that something's gone wrong.

God in his mercy is rebuking us until we once again submit to him. Finally, God will build his church through us when we listen to the son. And Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is well that we are here.

If you wish, I will make here three booths, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. While he was still speaking, lo, a bright cloud overshadowed him, and a voice from the clouds said, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.

Listen. Be still and listen. Stop your mouth and listen.

That's what he's saying to us. You will accomplish more in five minutes of genuine listening to a word from God, from the Lord Jesus, than five years of imposing your insights, your inventions, and your good intentions on the body of Christ. The Spirit of God is searching the earth and searching this congregation, looking for men and women who are swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath.

For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. With these, he will verily restore Zion. God is doing good to Zion.

The Lord is building the walls of Jerusalem, and he's doing this through people who offer him a broken spirit and a contrite heart, who submit to the lordship of the son, and who listen. Listen. Listen.

Time is fulfilled. Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news.

Repent and submit to the son, and he will build the new Jerusalem through you. Let's take some silence now. Let the spirit speak to our hearts.