A BROKEN AND CONTRITE HEART

Psalm 51:10-17

At the beginning of each new year, the clean slate before us motivates us to make some changes in our lives, to resolve to do things differently, take more control of our lives, improve our lives in some way. The underlying assumption, of course, is that we are capable of making those changes ourselves. We who belong to Christ know better! Everything depends upon Him and His work in our lives. We must be broken of any ideas and assumptions otherwise!

During the month of December, a flu bug took its toll on thousands of folks in our area and millions around the nation. Everywhere you turned, you heard another story of someone whose health had been broken by the fever and congestion and aches and pains of this ugly strain of the flu. When we come to such times, we need a lot of TLC to nurse us back to good health. Although the discomfort and agony of the flu made it difficult to appreciate, for many people who suffered from the flu, their malady provided an unexpected blessing they could not recognize at the time. Because their health was broken, they depended upon the kindness and care of others to get them through. Routines and schedules and habits went by the way as loved ones came alongside those who were ill to bring hope of recovery and to offer loving aid. During a time when you might have been tempted to ignore others and find them ignoring you, because you needed them they drew near.

So often we send the message to others that we can get along very well without them. Our proud self-sufficient ways make it clear that we need nothing and no one. Then when we are utterly broken down by poor health, or personal failure, or pitiable circumstances we see in our brokenness the truth of how needy we really are. Often it is only during those times when we are “broken” that we see how wonderful it is to be loved and restored by those who draw near in our time of need.

That is why God makes it abundantly clear in His Word that He will never despise a broken and contrite heart…and equally clear that He may have to break our hearts before we understand how wonderful it is to have Someone love us and draw near to us during those dark times in our lives.

THESIS: Before many of God’s redeemed can be used effectively for His glory, they will first have to be broken.

I. TO BE BROKEN IS TO BE NEAR GOD’S HEART

Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.

--We are usually broken in one of two ways: by sin and by circumstances.

A. A SERVANT’S SPIRIT MUST BREAK

--Sin definitely breaks us if we allow the Holy Spirit to accomplish His work of conviction and lead us to repentance.

--But other factors also serve to break us and prepare us to abide in the presence of Christ…near the heart of God.

A Disciple’s Spirit Can Endure…

1. Troubling Trials

--Various kinds of trials arise in our lives to trouble our spirits and force us to face our inadequacies and the insufficient inner resources of our own ability to cope.

--We experience extreme stress and suffer from the anxiety of not knowing when the trials will end, or what their result will be.

2. Painful Periods

--Sometimes we run into periods of intense sorrow, grief and pain that effectively break our spirit and threaten to crush us.

--As often as not, the pain comes in waves, each compounding the grief of the previous hurt, relief no relief from the first rounds of suffering before we get hit with more hurt than we think we can endure.

3. Incapacitating Insecurities

--Either in our work, or in our families, we can count on running into circumstances that are beyond our ability and which exaggerate our insecurities into full-blown paralysis.

--We are incapacitated by our inability to know how and what to do with the result that our spirit’s are broken and our insecurities take over and render us useless to make any progress.

B. A SINNER’S HEART MUST BREAK

A Sinner’s Heart Must…

1. Break Down

--He must realize the utter despair of continuing in his dangerous condition.

a. Broken Cisterns Cannot Hold Water

Jer. 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns, That can hold no water.

b. Broken Jars Cannot Dip Water

Is. 30:14 “And whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar; So ruthlessly shattered That a sherd will not be found among its pieces To take fire from a hearth, Or to scoop water from a cistern.”

c. Broken Branches Cannot Bear Fruit

John 15:2, 6 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit… ⁶“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

--God will not settle for anything less than brokenness when it comes to our sin!

2. Break Open

--We must allow our hearts to break open to the truth that our sin was against the Lord Himself and against the holiness of His name.

Psalm 51:4 Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned, And done what is evil in Thy sight, So that Thou art justified when Thou dost speak, And blameless when Thou dost judge.

--The unbroken ground of repentance needs to be broken up, opened to the seed of righteousness as we admit our sin and no longer try to bury it and hide it from Him and even from ourselves.

Hos. 10:12 Sow with a view to righteousness, Reap in accordance with kindness; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD Until He comes to rain righteousness on you.

3. Break Through

--Once the sin has been brought out into the light for what it is, our hearts can finally break through the fog and find the redeeming love of Christ waiting for us there.

4. Break Out

--Once it has found the love of Christ, the heart will overflow and break out with expressions of love and trust, praise and thanksgiving, to the Savior who has brought them through the brokenness to healing.

The Alabaster Vial—Broken so that perfume filled the room with the fragrant aroma (Mark 14:3)

The Fishes and Loaves—Broken so that they fill the multitude with an abundance of food

The Communion Bread—Broken for you and used as a remembrance of the fullness of His redemption.

When Christ has a hand in the breaking, something is always breaking out! A sinner’s heart must be broken by Christ!

--Therefore, you can see that brokenness can come from our sin or our circumstances and leave us feeling like we have come to the end of our rope!

II. TO BE BROKEN IS TO BECOME LIKE CHRIST

--The Father will break us if He needs to so that we will see our need and draw near to Him that we might be made like Jesus!

A. REMEMBER THE BODY THAT WAS BROKEN

--When Christ shared the Last Supper with His disciples, He took the bread of the Passover, and after giving thanks to the Father, He broke it and gave it to them saying,

1 Cor 11:24 This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.

--The plan for our salvation, for our redemption and restoration was for Jesus Christ to become a human being --to become flesh—and to be broken for us.

--Whenever we come to the Lord’s Table, we come to remember what He did out of His love for us and to remember that because of His brokenness we now have life in His name.

B. REMEMBER THE BLESSING OF BEING BROKEN

--When we reach that place of trust in the Lord that allows us to see brokenness as a vital part of His plan to conform us to the image of His Son, we will be ready to GIVE THANKS for the times of breaking in our lives.

1. Broken at the Master’s Touch

--Like a wild stallion needs to be broken so that it can even respond to the most subtle touch of the Master’s reins, so our hearts and spirits must be broken from our rebellion and independence.

--Sensitivity to sin and a growing awareness to the place of pain in the process of “taming” our wild hearts and spirits indicate that we are becoming more like our Master.

2. Restored by the Master’s Healing

--When we finally reach the end of ourselves and acknowledge our broken hearts and spirits, then we can rejoice for then our restoration is near!

Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.

--We are never ready to be restored until we actually realize that we have been broken.

3. Shaped into the Master’s Image

--When the fires of our brokenness melt our hearts, we are then ready to be poured into the mold that most carefully and accurately reflects His image.

We all want to do whatever it takes to avoid anything that might break us, but in fact in God’s plan for our lives, it is often the times of breaking that produce the greatest growth and bear the richest fruit.

As the new year begins, with all of its self-sufficient affirmations of what we intend to do in the coming months, we would do well to come to the Lord’s Table today with broken and contrite hearts and admit our total dependence upon the One who was broken for us.

Brokenhearted people are the kinds of people God uses because He knows that they will not—cannot—claim any of the glory for themselves.

The fires of brokenness may burn in us because of sin in our lives, or because of self-sufficiency in our lives. How are you responding to the heat of those fires today?

u Has the fire melted you? Praise Him and give thanks!

u Has the fire hardened you? Ask the Lord to break you!

God wants to use you to bring glory to His holy name. Therefore He wants you to be broken so that Christ can work in you to comfort and heal you—then prepare you to serve Him with all your heart!

God uses people whose hearts have been broken and restored by the grace of Jesus Christ!

January 4, 2004

Providence Baptist Church

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