Completely Broken — E.A. Johnston

Fleshly Self-Will Versus Humble Usefulness

I have an important message for us today, friends, and you'll be beneficial to someone here who wants to be used of God more. When I look in my Bible and I see King Saul, I see that King Saul was a self-willed man full of himself, and what you saw of him was a man operating solely in the flesh.

God eventually had to set him aside. On the other hand, when one encountered the prophet Elisha, he was described by the Shunamite woman this way, and she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, which passes us by continually, but when you encountered King Saul, you saw man in the flesh, self-willed.

Humility in the Lives of Faithful Ministers

J. Siddle Baxter used to say, How can a man full of himself preach to Christ who emptied himself? I used to be good friends with Adrian Rogers and Stephen Olford. Both of those men had incredible and far-reaching ministries for God.

Dr. Rogers was my pastor for over 20 years, and Dr. Olford was my homiletical mentor who taught me how to preach. I spent time both socially with these men and in ministry with them, and they were both very humble men who walked closely with God, and God used them in deep ways, and what stood out from Adrian Rogers was when I was with him, I always felt I was in the presence of Jesus because Jesus was preeminent in Adrian's life, and when I was with Dr. Olford, I always felt I was with a holy man of God because of his holy walk with God.

How Fleshly Compromise Undermines Ministry

On the other hand, I knew a man in ministry who I was with when he had an incredible opportunity in a certain community. He was invited by a prominent seminary to take a week of meetings and to get on the radio ministry there for the students, and when his chance came up at his largest meeting, he told the most inappropriate joke in an attempt to shock his hearers into a laugh, and he got a couple of laughs just from a shock value, and his messages were falling off from then.

His crowds, I mean, fell off from that point, and I looked at this man's life, and I compared his life to Adrian Rogers and Stephen Olford, and I could see that God couldn't use this man more because this man just kept getting in the way of God with his flesh, and God couldn't trust him.

God couldn't rely on him. Self kept rising up and getting in the way. Listen to me, friend. There's a secret to uselessness, and that is through absolute surrender, and the only way you're going to get there is when you are completely broken, and that's the title of my message today, friends, Completely Broken, and if you'll stay with me in this message, I believe you'll be glad you did.

The Broken Heart and Contrite Spirit of Psalm 34

My scripture for this message today is found in the book of Psalms. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. We'll be in Psalm 34, 18, which declares, The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and save as such as be of a contrite spirit.

Well, I want to break down both those words in the Hebrew of broken and contrite. The Hebrew word for broken is the word shavar, and it means to break in pieces, to crush, to smash, as you'd smash an earthen vessel, and metaphorically it denotes a shattered heart.

I think you get the idea. So the imagery is that of smashing a thing. Alan Redpath once said, God cannot use a man until he first smashes him. Well, I agree with Alan Redpath. The second word in our text is the word contrite, and the Hebrew word for contrite used here is an adjective of the word dachah, which means to cast down, be humbled, to break, to crush, and it's the imagery of grinding glass to powder.

Notice these words are attached to other words in our text. Broken goes with heart, contrite goes with spirit, a broken heart and a contrite spirit. So I think you get the main idea here from our text regarding brokenness in Psalm 34 .18.

David's Deliverance and the Meaning of Brokenness

It's describing God's nearness to the man who was broken before God. The author of this psalm is King David. He wrote Psalm 34 when he changed his behavior before Bemelech, who drove him away because he thought David was stark raving mad, a drooling madman.

The Story of Sam Jones and the Wild Broncos

David is praising God for his deliverance in Psalm 34. David knew full well it's only the man who was broken before God that God can use. Now I want to tell you a story, friends, and when we get to this end of the story, I'll be at the end of my message, but don't leave me because I want to lead us in a time of prayer, but I believe it's one of those stories, friends, you can't get out of your mind once you hear it, and we can learn something from it, and we can be blessed by it.

So please listen to it while I bring it before you today. It's a story about Sam Jones, the famous evangelist. Sam Jones was at his home in Cornersville, Georgia when he received a telegram from Texas inviting him to go preach to the cowboys of Southwest Texas.

He prayed about it, and he got on a train, and he went to Texas, and for two weeks he preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to the cowboys of Texas. When it was over, as they came to the end of the campaign, the cowboys wanted to give Sam Jones a love offering.

They felt the laborer was worthy of his hire, and they had received wonderful blessings from his time among them, but there was a problem. They had no money, not a single dollar in any of their pockets, and they didn't know what to do, so they allowed Sam Jones to go back home to Cornersville, Georgia with no compensation or love offering of any kind whatever.

Well, Sam Jones went back, and a couple of weeks passed by. Then suddenly one day he received a telegram. It was from the cowboys of Texas. It read like this, We are sending you a love offering, and we are shipping to you a carload of broncos.

And Sam Jones scratched his head as he looked in amazement at the telegram. What am I going to do, he said, with a carload of wild horses in the small town of Cornersville? Well, his friend was standing beside him, and he said, Why, it's easy.

Hold an auction sale. Sell the broncos, and you'll get your money. You can get your love offering then, and put it in your pocket. Well, Sam Jones thought it was a good suggestion, so he held an auction sale.

He sold the broncos, all except one. He kept the finest-looking bronco for his son. He wanted to give that bronco to his son as a gift, and that's what he did. But the son had never in his life been on the back of an unbroken bronco, and Sam Jones wondered what he could do.

The Bronco Broken on Both Sides

He called the cowboy to him who had brought the carload of broncos to Cornersville. He said, Will you take this bronco? Will you break him so that my son can ride him? Yes, sir, said the cowboy. I'd be glad to.

How much will you charge? Fifteen dollars, said the cowboy. All right, said Sam. Take him away. Well, the cowboy disappeared with the bronco, and two weeks later, he came back. Is he broken? said Sam.

Yes, sir, he's broken. Can my son ride him in perfect safety? Yes, sir, your son can ride him in perfect safety. The father thought that, before allowing his son to ride the bronco, he'd better mount himself and make sure that the cowboy had broken the bronco.

So he started toward the bronco. The cowboy came running up, waving his hands in alarm. Why? said Sam. What's the matter? What's gone wrong? Oh, said the cowboy. He's only broken on one side, and you're mounting from the wrong side.

Oh, said Sam. That will never do. My son might make a mistake and mount from the wrong side. How much will you charge me to break him on the other side? Fifteen dollars, said the cowboy. All right, said Sam.

Take him away and break him on the other side. Well, another two weeks passed by, and again the cowboy returned, leading the bronco. Is he broken? asked Sam. Yes, sir, he's broken. Both sides? Yes, sir, both sides.

Brokenness as the Path to Usefulness

Your son can ride him in perfect safety from either side. All right, said Sam. Here's your fifteen dollars. Well, I like that story, friends, because it's so true. You know, the average Christian is only broken on one side.

He'll do this, but he won't do that. He'll go here, but he won't go there. He's like the bronco. He's only broken on one side, and he wonders why God doesn't use him more. He doesn't realize he's only been broken on one side.

That God can't trust him. God can't rely upon him. The man that God uses is the man who's been broken on both sides. But there's a direct correlation, friends, between brokenness and usefulness. I can speak from personal experience in my own life, friends.

Maybe it's time for you to come clean with God and admit that you were only broken on one side. I know part of you wants to be broken on both sides, but part of you is afraid. You can either keep on going on the way you've been going in serving God, or you can submit to him in absolute surrender to him.

Absolute Surrender to the Lordship of Christ

But if you want God to really use you, then you must be broken on both sides. All I know is that Jesus held nothing back on Calvary. He gave his all so we could live. Listen to me, friend. Ask God to give you the grace to become broken on both sides.

Life is short. Time's slipping away. Don't let another day go by. Don't let another opportunity be missed. Take time now, friend, to get alone with God and seek his face and seek his favor in getting you to become more useful by becoming broken on both sides.

Where you come in absolute surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Where you lay yourself on the altar in absolute surrender to God and give God a hundred percent of all the reins of all your heart.

A Prayer for Complete Surrender

You know the brokenness before the king of kings. Let me lead you in the following prayer. Great God, admit I'm only broken on one side. I want to be broken on both sides. But I'm afraid of what it's going to take for me to get there.

But I trust you, Lord, and I sincerely want to be used of you more and more. Do what's necessary from your perspective in my life to get me to be the person you want me to be. To get me to be broken on both sides.

I surrender all I am and all I have to you right now, right now. Change me, Lord, I pray by your spirit and by your grace in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.