Jesus, our Lord and Savior, invites all broken and lost souls to come to Him for help and rest from the burden of sin. He wants those lost souls to bring their brokenness to Him for healing. Christ, our Savior, can make broken souls anew. Though marred by sin, they become whole again. He can restore our broken lives and the empty and wasted years of sin. When we obey His Gospel, our Lord removes our iniquities and remembers them no more. When we obey the remedy for sin that He offers and are buried with Him in baptism, He creates us anew. It is then that we start walking in the newness of life.
"Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:3-4)
"And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Cor. 6:11)
"But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. 8 For he finds fault with them when he says: 'Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.'" (Hebrews 8:6-12)
“They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:14; 8:11).
- Sin:
“For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our time in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another” (Titus 3:3).
“Being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful” (Romans 1:29-31).
“Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin” (John 8:34).
“And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds” (Colossians 1:21).
When people depart from God, choosing to ignore His will, they are in trouble. And once they get in trouble, they often get their loved ones to cover for them. The truth is that when we involve others in our sins, that shows we only care about ourselves. We are concerned only about ourselves and are willing to throw everyone else underneath the bus. This course of action shows a lack of humility and repentance: a lack of brokenness of heart.
- Sin is indeed ugly and harsh.
- Sin will take a toll on our compassion and love, and defile our conscience (Jeremiah 6:15) and our relationships.
- Our honesty disappears (John 3:10-21), and
- Our self-control goes out the window along with our view of reality (2 Thess. 2:10-12).
“For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hewn for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13).
- We cannot fool God, even though we might fool ourselves and others for a while.
- We must recognize and accept that God demands truth, honesty, and integrity of heart.
- Our spirit within us must be crushed by guilt, leaving us with genuine and deep sorrow because we have been rebellious and sinful before our God.
- We must resolve to humbly repent with a contrite and broken heart that does not seek to rationalize, defend and justify our sins.
- We must not blame our circumstances, others, or even God for our failures, rebellions, or sins.
The guilt of sin weighs heavily on man’s heart, soul, and mind. It covers the soul with deep sadness, profound grief, and tormenting pain. Some sins bring a heavier weight to the soul than others. It is a deep pain that almost everyone has felt in his life as he tries to serve God faithfully. Sin in our life is the transgression of God's will and rebellion against Him.
- It is thoroughly evil from top to bottom.
- It opposes all that God is, His purposes, His love, and His Grace.
- Sin is hopelessly corrupt, filthy, and contaminating.
- It produces guilt, shame, and filthiness.
- Sin is falsehood and is the antithesis of Truth.
- It reduces man to a puppet in the hands of Satan.
- It crushes those who indulge in it.
- It separates man from God.
- Sin can numb the conscience and blind our understanding.
- Sin enslaves us by piling on more and more sin until the soul is fully absorbed.
- What Is Brokenness?
Often, our character or bad experiences make us feel broken. Sadly, we allow those negative feelings or life’s circumstances to define us. We let them rule our spiritual lives to our detriment. It would be good and wise to consider God’s viewpoint of broken people to help us change our way of thinking. After all, the Bible does say that brokenness is a good spiritual quality to have.
In countries like Japan, broken things are often repaired with gold. They restore the broken part with gold mixed with epoxy. Their purpose is not just to replace the damaged piece but to convey awe, reverence, and restoration. The flaw in the broken vessel is seen as a unique piece of the object’s history, which adds to its beauty. The gold-filled cracks are a testament to its history. Such a history is critical to embrace. Why? Because just like those once broken objects, we humans have a history that God, our Creator, can use for His glory.
In Japanese culture, “it’s very important that we understand the spiritual backgrounds or the history behind… the material.”
The Japanese people set aside the sad stories that show how difficult it was to recover from devastation, betrayals, and losses. The stories tend to cling to misfortune and imply that they are “damaged goods,” not worthy of love, recognition, or success. Like the Japanese people, do you have a story or life event that you cannot recover from? Has betrayal, loss of family, and loved ones brought you down so much that it prevents you from getting closer to God? Sadly, many people think of themselves as damaged goods and worthless. Their state of mind affects their growth and restoration with God. We often hear that the church is for people who cannot get it together, losers, and those who need help. Let us consider a few things, such as gold and epoxy used to restore broken objects.
- Gold and Epoxy:
Now let us think for a moment and try to put it all together.
- God puts us back together with Himself (gold) and Jesus.
- When God fixes us, we are given a strong bond.
- This bond now makes us whole, better, and more beautiful before God.
- Psalm 51 explains David’s brokenness after God rebuked him for his sin. David was broken with godly sorrow, which showed true repentance before God.
“My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”
- “A Broken And Contrite Heart" (Psalm 51:16-17)
“For thou delightest not in sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou hast no pleasure in burnt-offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
God wants a broken and contrite spirit. He will welcome such a heart and rejoice over it. A broken heart surrenders and accepts responsibility for his sins. Such a heart destroys his strong will and allows God to rule it. It does not become calloused by sin. A broken heart admits his sins and is sorrowful, desiring to change and be in fellowship with God. A broken heart does not allow guilt to eat him away but longs to do God's will. The broken heart accepts responsibility for his sins, for it has godly sorrow. A contrite heart is poor in spirit and is fully aware of its need for God's approval. A broken heart submits to God and His rule. Our hearts must break with sorrow when we sin. God will respond to our brokenness with Grace when we humbly confess our sins and surrender to His will. A contrite heart accepts that change must happen, deep repentance. The Grace of God will only save the brokenhearted and poor in spirit.
Sinners must be heartbroken over their sins. They must grieve for defying God. God cannot extend His Grace if there is no deep concern or sorrow over sin. There must be a desire to turn away from sin to walk in newness of life. Sinners must accept God’s terms of Grace. When they do, they will be ready to have a new heart, a new joy, and a renewed fellowship with Him. God’s righteous and holy standards must rule their new life. The redeemed must then pass God's most magnificent gift of love to others by sharing the Gospel, the Good News, to others who are broken because of sin.
- What is godly sorrow?
Godly sorrow does not come from endless human therapy, human theology, or self-help principles. Through the Gospel, God calls men to find the remedy for their sinful way of living. God uses the Gospel to return the hearts of men to Him. Paul declared,
"For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death." (II Cor. 7:10)
"For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while— I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us."
On the other hand, worldly sorrow is a cruel thing. It is guilt without hope. One can have sincere remorse for offending God and others, but not to the point of repenting and changing his life completely. Such a person is only sorry because he got caught in sin. True repentance does not take place with someone unwilling to repent and turn from his sins and completely surrender to the will of God. So I ask you, can the sinner's prayer for forgiveness save a man if he is not willing to repent of his sins, be renewed, and be transformed by the everlasting TRUTH? Worldly sorrow can’t produce genuine repentance that transforms and regenerates the character or heart of man. If man is not willing to surrender from the heart completely to the Lord, he is wasting his time because worldly sorrow can only produce eternal death. It renders man hopeless.
For a person to come to know godly sorrow, he must humbly see himself as totally lost: lost because of sin and undone without God in his life. He must feel sin-sick before seeking the Great Physician who offers the remedy that can heal him. This attitude of heart is vital to receiving pardon.
- Sinners must be aware of their spiritual poverty.
- They must accept their slavery to sin before they can have the hope found in Jesus that restores thier broken souls.
- They must be thirsty for righteousness and willing to take up Christ's sweet and easy yoke.
- They must feel cast down because of theirs sins before looking for a Savior to redeem them.
“He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” (John 1:11–16)
“A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench” (Isaiah 42:3).
- Why did Jesus die on the cross?
- Was there another way?
- What is God’s plan for us?
- What does God expect from us?
- Why did He give us the Bible?
- Why does He want us to obey everything in it?
- Does God want us to live a righteous life to go to heaven?
- Or can we live a good moral life and go to heaven?
- Is there more than that?
“Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He *said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:36-38)
- Are you heartbroken for the lost?
- Do you look on them with eyes of compassion as our Savior did?
"They don’t want to hear the good news...they wouldn’t accept the gift even if you tried."
- Why the Bible?
“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that is in accordance with godliness, in the hope of eternal life that God, who never lies, promised before the ages began 3 and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior.”
God wants us to be like Him. In Matthew 5:48, Jesus emphasizes this with statements such as “even as” or “just as” to show us how we must live to be like the Father.
“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”
“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.”
“He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”
- We do not always live like God.
- We have not kept His Law.
- We have sinned.
- We have violated God’s Law (“Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.” –1 John 3:4).
- Romans 3:23 tells us that all have sinned.
- Romans 3:9-10 declares that there is none righteous, not even one.
- We cannot live with God while we live in sin.
- God will not have us in heaven with Him while we walk in sin.
“The wages of sin is death.”
In Isaiah 59:1-2, we read,
“Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.”
We must stress that no one will be saved because they may have lived a good moral life, for we need our Savior’s blood to wash away our sins. A good moral life will not do it. We cannot make up for our sins by being good, even sinning once. Let me explain.
In Acts 10:2, we read of a man named Cornelius who was “devout, feared God with his whole house, gave much money to the poor, and prayed to God always.” Yet Cornelius was lost because he had not done what the Lord required to obtain forgiveness. He had to wash away his sins to be forgiven and restored to God.
- God’s Remedy to Sin:
Here is where the love of God and the Grace of God comes in. God made us with a specific purpose: to live with Him. And though our world is broken and is lost in sin, God does not want us to stay in that condition. So how does God provide forgiveness?
Consider the two statements of the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20 and Mark 16:15-16.
“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
“And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
So, how do we remain forgiven after we are baptized? The beauty of the Gospel is that once we are in Christ, we can continue to have forgiveness of sins when we obey God and confess our sins to Him.
How do we obtain forgiveness after we have been saved? John gives us the answer in 1 John 1:7-2:5,
“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.’”
- My sins hurt God, others and, of course, myself.
- My sins separate me from God and corrupt my relationship with those around me.
- My sins cannot be excused, rationalized, or blamed on others or circumstances.
God forgives, cleanses, and blots out our sins. God removes our sins and erases them from His record. This is how God deals with our sins through the fulness of His redemption, the thoroughness of His cleansing. When God forgives us, He justifies us (Romans 3:24). Without understanding how grave our sins truly are (godly sorrow), it is impossible to have that poverty of spirit, brokenness. There won't be any Grace for us until we are poor in spirit and broken because of our sins. It will be impossible to grasp Christ's glory and His riches toward us until we understand our deadness, blindness, and brokenness due to sin. In brokenness, we become aware of our sinfulness. One must be broken before God to have God's mercy and lovingkindness (Grace). When we acknowledge our brokenness, we benefit from His power that can transform our lives into righteousness. God will only forgive the broken heart, the godly sorrowful, who accepts his sinful condition before Him. He is willing to repent because he feels broken and wants to be forgiven. Such a heart seeks to humbly serve and bless others who are also broken because of sin.
Thus we must empty ourselves to be filled with God's righteousness. The brokenhearted are sorrowful and make changes.
- So, will you come to Jesus our Lord with a broken and contrite heart, confessing your sins so that He may cleanse your heart?
- Will you allow Jesus to transform your life?
- Are you willing to experience the salvation that He and only He can provide?
- Why not turn to God for refuge?
- Why not refuse the urge to be self-sufficient and independent, for you need a Savior to save you from your broken life?!
- Since your ways of living have failed, why not seek God’s ways and receive salvation and Grace?
Indeed, we live in a world of broken people hurt by sin. Some are willing to change, thus repenting from their sinful ways. They acknowledge that God is the only real answer for their brokenness. Our gracious God can help us put our lives back together. He is willing to mend and restore our broken lives. God will never despise a broken and contrite heart. He delights in those who admit how broken they are. He will help them (Psalm 51:17; Isaiah 61:1; 66:2; 57:15).
Is it not marvelous how God responds to our brokenness, the brokenness caused by our sins! It is an extension of His Grace and lovingkindness. God responds to our brokenness when we are humble of heart. He is well pleased. But He rejects the haughty spirit—the humble heart yielding to God's will. A broken man weeps bitterly over his sins and repents before his God, for he recognizes his spiritual poverty. He humbly confesses his need for God’s mercy, God’s forgiveness, and His Grace. In the spirit of brokenness, the poor in spirit surrenders to the need for righteousness and obedience. The broken heart stands before God without any pretense, for he strips himself of self-sufficiency, self-security, and self-righteousness. The broken and poor spirit will humbly admit that he has sinned against his Lord and thus is not worthy of being God's son in His kingdom. We cannot enter heaven any other way. God demands that a man’s heart be broken, and his spirit humbled before he may enter His heavenly kingdom.
Lack of surrender to God is merely the result of a selfish heart. Our selfishness robs us of the power of the Gospel to transform our lives. Our pride and self-sufficiency must be broken, and our love for sin surrendered. God wants the broken to know the depth of their sins and the need for a Savior to rescue them from their desperate spiritual poverty. Only the poor in spirit will allow Jesus our Lord to rule their hearts. Those who are brokenhearted will heed the Gospel Message, the good news, to set them free from the slavery of sin. God's Grace will not benefit us unless we accept and grasp the enormity of our guilt, that is, our brokenness, before a righteous and holy God. The brokenhearted grow in the awareness of their sins and plead to God for mercy. The brokenhearted seek to be pure in heart and do not question the efficacy of the Law of Christ. They do not argue with demands implied by that message.
In Psalm 51, David teaches us to acknowledge our sin and its guilty stain. He also shows us the remedy for sin: restoring our soul to God. King David repented of his adultery with Bathsheba when his pride and self-will were finally broken. When he confronted the ugliness of the evil he had committed in the presence of a Holy God, David realized that he had to lay aside all pride and rebellion. His guilt and repentance brought David back into a relationship with God. David’s moving phrase in Psalm 51, "Create in me a clean heart, O God," reflects an earnest desire from a broken heart that wishes to repent and to be restored to God. It portrays the height of God’s Grace and genuine repentance (godly sorrow, brokenness).
But, salvation is presented as conditional, for God's Word declares that one must acknowledge his sin, turn away from it with godly sorrow, accept the responsibility and come to God for fellowship. However, there must be a full intent of returning to God so that He may run to meet us. One must choose to repent and turn from all evil and lawlessness to walk in righteousness. This moving Psalm gives hope to the broken sinner. It is the picture of the prodigal son in Luke 15 where we see on parade: full repentance, grace, complete forgiveness, full restoration from the depths of sin, and the indescribable hope in God for the hopeless. As we read David's pleadings, we notice the profound and dark valley of tragedy lying prostrate before the highest mountain of God's character and Grace. Can we not rejoice in the goodness of God toward the broken and contrite heart?!
God’s plan of salvation is based on a Fatherly God who desires to save the hopeless and helpless. God, our Father, so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son on the cross to give us the remedy for sin.
The kingdom of Christ is only for the “poor in spirit.” The poor in spirit have brokenness of heart. They seek and look to God for help. They strip themselves of all self-sufficiency, self-security, and self-righteousness. They are not proud, thinking that God owes them something. They are aware of their spiritual poverty. They acknowledge they must be beggars before God to enter the kingdom of heaven. Kingdom citizens beg and do not boast or brag (John 15:5; 9:39-41). God wants broken hearts that recognize that their goodness is not enough to measure up to God's standards. You see, this is a big problem with our people today, for they think they're good enough and don't see the need for God to save them.
Without brokenness and poverty of spirit, we can only endure one ruler. Guess who? Self. Why? Because we deceive ourselves, believing that we must fight to preserve our own little kingdom of death rather than repent and follow Jesus, who must rule over us. We must empty ourselves to be saved. Without accepting our grave sins, it will be impossible to have brokenness. There won't be any Grace. It will be impossible to grasp Christ's glory and riches found in the Gospel without brokenness. In brokenness, we become aware of our sinfulness (Romans 3:10; 3:23). A failure to recognize our brokenness can only alienate us from God's Grace and power to transform our lives of sin into righteousness. Thus we must empty ourselves that we might be filled with God's righteousness.
So, will you come to Jesus our Lord with a broken and contrite heart, confessing your sins so that He may cleanse your heart? Will you allow Jesus to transform your life? Will you be willing to experience the salvation that He and only He can provide? Why not turn to God for refuge? Why not refuse the urge to self-sufficiency and independence, for you need a Savior to save you from your broken life?! Why would anyone turn such a great salvation down?! Why not find God after failure and receive salvation and Grace?
Don't let Satan immobilize you because of your guilt, for he wants you to give up restoring your relationship with God! Remember that God can blot out your transgressions and continue His unfailing love toward you and me only when we confess our sins to Him with complete brokenness and poverty of spirit.
May we teach the Gospel of Salvation to all the broken people in this world and give them the hope to mend their lives. May they bring their broken lives to God to be mended and be made whole again. May all men have brokenness of heart, sincere repentance, sorrow over sin, and a heartfelt appeal to God for His Grace and lovingkindness. May they have a spirit of brokenness that weeps bitterly over their sins, and may they repent before God before it’s too late. May all people know the depth of their sins and the need for a Savior to rescue them from their brokenness of spirit. May they have a heart of humility to heed the Gospel Message to transform their broken lives into vessels of righteousness to God’s glory.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." (Matthew 5:3-4)
However, there must be motivating penitent feelings to come to Christ to be mended. Our brokenness leads us to genuine repentance (2 Cor. 7:10). That was David’s case after confessing his sin to God (Psalm 51:1-2). When we come to Christ with our brokenness, we can find all we lack: spiritual blessings and healing (Revelation 3:18). The broken in sin are spiritually poor, wretched, and blind (Revelation 3:17). But they must come to Christ to partake of these spiritual blessings, for they are only found in Him (Eph. 1:3). Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Our Lamb of God came to welcome, pardon, cleanse, and relieve us from the burden of sin. God’s love made this happen ( John 3:16). God’s love sent His beloved Son to be our sacrifice for sin. Therefore, the broken in sin must believe in Christ to be saved. Come to Jesus, our Lamb of God, turning from all sin and humbly submitting to Him. Let God mold you into what He wants you to be.
I hope the words of this lovely song stir your soul the way it does mine.
Luci
