BROKEN HEARTS
PSALM 34:11-18
INTRODUCTION: Heart is used in Scripture as the most comprehensive term for the authentic person. It is the part of our being where we desire, deliberate, and decide. It has been described as "the place of conscious and decisive spiritual activity, the comprehensive term for a person as a whole; his feelings, desires, passions, thought, understanding and will," and "the center of a person; the place to which God turns." (Fan the Flame, J. Stowell, Moody, 1986, p. 13) If we are to have genuine revival with the power of God flowing through us we must first have broken hearts – broken over our personal sin, the sins of the saints, and the sin of the world.
I. We need Broken Hearts over our Individual Sins
A. A little girl in London held up her broken wrist and said, "Look, Mommy, my hand is bent the wrong way!" There were no tears in her eyes. She felt no pain whatever. That was when she was four years old. When she was six, her parents noticed that she was walking with a limp. A doctor discovered that the girl had a fractured thigh. Still she felt no pain. Today the girl is much older. She is careful now, but occasionally looks at blisters and burns on her hands and wonders, "How did this happen?" She is insensitive to pain! Medical specialists are baffled by her case. She has a condition known as ganglineuropathy. There is another insensitiveness which is deadlier and more dangerous – insensitivity to sin! Paul said of people with this problem: they had "their consciences seared as with a hot iron" (1 Tim 4:2)
B. Hebrews 3:7-8 MKJV Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness"
C. In our churches today there is too much emphasis on ceremony and style, "feeling good", being moved and not enough genuine brokenness of heart.
D. Psalms 51:17 MKJV The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. (Hebrew – shâbar and dâkâh - literally "a collapsed heart that is broken into pieces and crushed")
E. Psalms 51:3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
F. Luke 22:61-62 MKJV And the Lord turned and looked on Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, before the cock crows, you shall deny Me three times. And Peter went out and wept bitterly.
G. On September 29, 1904, Evan Roberts heard a tremendous sermon delivered by Seth Joshua in which Joshua repeated the words "Lord, bend us! Lord, bend us!" The Spirit of God used that simple statement to break Evan Roberts’ heart. The following Monday night 17 young people in his Bible class responded after hearing Roberts tell them: "You must put away all unconfessed sin; you must put away any doubtful habit; you must obey the Spirit promptly; and you must confess Christ publicly." God’s Spirit was poured out upon His servant and the effects were felt throughout the Principality of Wales. One hundred thousand were converted within six months. Eventually that revival touched England, Ireland, the United States--especially Kentucky. It leaped across the Pacific to India. It had an effect in South Africa, and was preparatory to all missionary work in South America. But the key was that Evan Roberts first had to be broken. Such brokenness before God brings revival. – Stephen Olford
II. We need Broken Hearts over Backsliding Believers
A. 1 Corinthians 5:1-2 Paraphrased Everywhere it is reported that there is sexual misconduct among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the unsaved, one having an affair with his stepmother. And you are so puffed up and full of pride that it hasn’t fazed you (grieved), Shouldn’t this break your hearts? Shouldn’t it bring you to your knees in tears? Shouldn’t this person and his conduct be confronted and dealt with?
B. We ought to love the institution of the church so greatly that when any part of the body of Christ is weakened through backsliding that our hearts are broken. We need to care enough to correct those who fall into sin.
C. Galatians 6:1 NKJV Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.
D. In his retirement, Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia. Because Jefferson trusted that students would take their studies seriously, the code of discipline was lax. Unfortunately, his trust proved misplaced when the misbehavior of students led to a riot in which professors who tried to restore order were attacked. The following day a meeting was held between the university’s board, of which Jefferson was a member, and defiant students. Jefferson began by saying, "This is one of the most painful events of my life," was overcome by emotion, and burst into tears. Another board member asked the rioters to come forward and give their names. Nearly every one did. Later, one of them said, "It was not Mr. Jefferson’s words, but his tears." Today in the Word, March 29, 1993.
E. Psalm 142:4 KJ21 I looked on my right hand and beheld, but there was no man that would know me. Refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.
F. My most painful experiences have been when I’ve had a problem and no one loved me enough to tell me about it. – Paul Cedar, pastor, Leadership
III. We need Broken Hearts over Community Lostness
A. Luke 19:41-42 MKJV And as He drew near, He beheld the city and wept over it, saying, If you had known, even you, even at least in this day of yours, the things for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
B. J. Wilbur Chapan had just closed a noonday meeting in the city of Detroit when we were startled by the cry of fire as people rushed along the streets, and one said to another, "The great Edson-Moore building is in flames." Most of those working in the business house had escaped, but several men were imprisoned in the upper story. The stairway was a mass of flame, and the elevator shaft full of fire so they could escape neither way. At last they came to the upper windows and looking down upon the multitude shouted for help, which could not be given. For some reason the fire appliances would not work and no ladder could be raised. At last the men stood on the outside casing of the windows and shouted again, and when the flames became too hot they let themselves down and held on to the casement with their fingers. This lasted only a moment when they loosed their hand grasp, shot down through the air and struck upon the hard stone pavement. They were carried to the hospital where they died soon afterward, and that night when in the great revival meeting J Wilbur Chapan made the announcement that in these homes there was desolation because the little children were fatherless and the women were widows, there was scarcely a dry eye in the building. Seeing this Chapan made this observation “We are greatly concerned when men are in physical distress, but when we realize that souls are lost; we seem positively to be indifferent." – J. W. Chapan, "Present Day Parables."
C. The great Scottish preacher William C. Burns was not merely a man of hopeful theories and empty words. Through his fervent praying and preaching, literally thousands witnessed the tangible glory of God. From an early age, William C. Burns heart was broken for a lost and dying world. The story is told that when he was seventeen his mother him from the quiet town of KiIsyth to the bustling city of Glasgow. His mother was separated from her son while she was shopping. After retracing her steps she discovered him in an alley with tears streaming down his face. She could see he was suffering great agony and said, "Willie my boy, what ails you? Are you ill?" With broken cries he replied, "Oh, mother, mother - the thud of these Christless feet on the way to hell breaks my heart" The spiritual eyes of young William Burns had caught a glimpse of the everlasting horrors of a Christless eternity. This vision no doubt helped shape this young man who would later become one of the key instruments in the great Kilsyth Revival of 1839. He often found himself being driven to his knees in almost constant intercession. "He wept for hours in deep soul agony on behalf of a backslidden church and the lost souls going to hell." His ministry was consistently marked by a divine urgency and intensity. – David Smithers, Prayer Makes History, The Watchword
D. As "Cultural Christians", we have become so identified with the world that when we look at the world we do not see much difference from what we are and therefore fail to see multitudes on their way to hell without Christ.
E. John 4:35 Do you not say, "There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
F. We’re becoming Gospel hardened while a world around us is going to hell in a hand basket and instead of reaching out to them - we’re too consumed in our own lives. We’re not BROKEN!
G. Ezekiel 22:30-31 And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none. Therefore have I poured out Mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath. Their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, says the Lord GOD."
H. The marks of a strong church are wet eyes, bent knees, and broken hearts.
Conclusion: When was the last time that your heart was broken – broken over your own sin? When was the last time your eyes were wet with tears over a brother or sister in Christ who has fallen? When was the last time your heart was crushed by the realization that many of your friends, acquaintances, neighbors, relatives, co-workers, and those living in your community are on their way to hell?
