The Blessedness of Brokenness - a Broken Heart — Phil Beach Jr.

We want to see you this morning, Lord. We sense your presence, Lord, and we're amazed. We don't want our hearts to be distracted from you. How you love us, how you so care for us as a shepherd cares for his own sheep.

Lord, we pray that now you would be kind to us and give us the Holy Spirit in special measurement today so that we are able to see you and to hear your word, which is able to change us and to encourage us today, Lord.

Oh, God, please. We pray, Lord, that you would melt our hearts in your presence, that you would encourage us, Lord, that you would minister to us, Lord. Father, I know that, you know, each one of us by name.

And that in addition to that, you are intimately aware of exactly what we are both going through and what we are in need of this morning. And I pray, Father, that through your word, you would speak to every single heart here and accomplish your wonderful divine purpose.

Lord, we pray, Lord, for Jesus' sake. Amen and amen. If you would open your Bibles to Mark, please, there is here this morning the presence of the Lord, and when he comes in the manner that he did this morning, he has a special interest.

The Lord's Interest in the Human Heart

And a certain part of our being. And that interest this morning is our heart, the heart is of special interest to the Lord this morning. My heart. And your heart and the Lord wants to minister to our hearts this morning.

He wants to help us and speak a living, healing word into our heart. It's very difficult to speak. On the theme that the Lord has put in my heart, because I know very little about the subject, there's only one man that I know who really understands this stuff, and that's the one I'm trusting in.

His name is Jesus. I don't understand it, but I know that he's with me and that he's with you who trust him. And as we look to him, we can understand this most amazing subject. And it's the subject of being broken before God.

Brokenness, I don't know of any man who is truly broken before God, except when I see the Lord Jesus, I see a broken man. Before his father and we have been looking at brokenness and how brokenness of heart is what the Lord is after.

Brokenness Cannot Be Produced by Human Effort

Now, before we even begin speaking on this topic, it is important to say that brokenness is not something that you can conjure up. You cannot work. And become broken. You cannot fast and pray and become broken.

You can't read your Bible more and become broken. Jesus said in John chapter 14, verse 6, I am the way. The truth and the life. And so everything that the Lord shows us in his word. That he wants us to be is secured through Jesus, not through effort, not through our own wisdom or our own strength.

And so when we talk about this topic of brokenness before God. We have to understand that Jesus is the way to brokenness, not a method, not a plan, but Jesus. When we meet Jesus, God will break us. When we continue to see Jesus, we will remain broken.

The absence of brokenness in our life can be reduced to one simple fact. Somehow the eyes of our heart have turned from our blessed Lord onto something else. And so, brothers and sisters, please understand this morning that the way to come into the good of all of these things that the Lord wants to do in our life, repentance, brokenness, humility, Christ likeness, free from greed, free from covetousness, free from selfishness.

How many of you are so sick of the tendency within your heart to be a self-centered human being? I am so sick of being selfish. I am so sick of finding myself at the slightest trouble, all worked up.

But no matter what I do and no matter how much effort I put in to my Christian life to try and correct myself, I meet nothing but utter failure. The only place of rest and peace and true transformation and change comes when the soul sees Jesus.

The words of John the Baptist, behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Behold, look, see Jesus. What was it that Moses said to those among Israel who had been bitten with vipers and snakes because of their grumbling and complaining?

He said, everyone who looks upon the brazen serpent will be healed, which was both a wonderful but a terrifying picture of the judgment that was met in Jesus Christ. Because Christ became a curse for us.

And so this morning, brothers and sisters, whatever ails your soul, whatever ails your soul, and God knows what you're going through, the unique trouble that you're in right now. I don't, and even you wives, your husband doesn't understand or know the depths of what you're going through.

And husbands, your wives cannot understand you. And it is vain to try and demand that they understand what you're going through or that they can meet the deepest need of your heart. And if you've gone there and tried that, you're going to meet with bitter, horrible failure.

Because the Lord never intended the husband to be Jesus to the wife. A companion, yes. A lover, yes. A friend, yes. But Jesus, no. There's only one who stands in our midst this morning who is able to meet the depths of our heart and the depths of our need.

Hearing the Shepherd's Voice in Mark 4

And so with that introduction, we're going to look into Mark for a short time. And we're going to let God's words speak to us. Now, please, listen for the Lord. Listen for the Lord. Listen for His voice.

Take your heart and eyes off the one next to you. Take it off of the unworthy speaker. Listen for the shepherd's voice. Father, please help us to hear your voice. I know you're speaking to us. And I pray, Lord, that we will be able to hear you.

My sheep hear my voice. Lord, minister now to our hearts. And heal us. And restore us. And give us what we don't have in ourselves. Matthew chapter 4. Mark, thank you. I did that intentionally to see if you were paying attention and that's very good.

And you know that's not true. As you're turning to Mark chapter 4, you remember last week we looked at Isaiah and we saw that God said that He was the High and the Lofty One. And that He inhabited eternity.

He lived in eternity. But He said, but with Him also that is of a humble and a contrite heart. Or a broken heart. And so God is telling us that He lives, He dwells with the broken in heart. And I've never, like I said, known anyone who had such a broken heart as our wonderful Savior Jesus.

His name was Emmanuel, God with us. He was the man. He was fully man and fully God. He was the man that was fully broken before God. And therefore, God fully committed Himself to Him. And so in Jesus we see a picture of this wonderful demonstration of God dwelling with a broken man.

A man who was all powerful but yet said, I of myself can do nothing. A man who was all knowing but said, unless my Father shows me, I don't know anything. I want to know this man. He is my only hope this morning.

Now listen, please brothers and sisters to the voice and spirit of God through the word of God this morning. We're going to talk as part of the introduction to this subject of brokenness. And remember, brokenness is a heart condition.

It is a heart condition. We're going to talk for a short time, however the Lord helps us, about four different types of hearts. Only one of these hearts is the heart that Jesus says He can truly occupy and speak to.

And reveal the beauties of Himself and His Father too. Mark chapter 4 beginning in verse 13. And He said unto them, Know ye not this parable? How then will you know all parables? The sower sows the word, and these are they by the wayside where the word is sown.

But when they have heard, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. And there are they likewise which are sown on stony ground, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness, and have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time.

Afterward, when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they are offended. And these are they which are sown among thorns, such as hear the word, and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

And now lastly, and these are they which are sown on good ground. Now, I'm going to take the liberty to change the word good, although I'm not changing the word of God, I'm just going to use another word because it can be supported in Scripture.

Just for the sake of this tremendous topic that the Lord has us on. Verse 20, and these are they which are sown on broken ground. You know, good ground is broken ground. Good ground is plowed ground. Good ground is tilled ground.

I have to laugh. Last week or something, I was upstairs. I was reading or maybe half asleep. I'm not sure. And all of a sudden I hear this motor running. And I said to myself, now it's not the sound of the pool filter.

It's not the sound of the lawnmower. It's not the riding lawnmower. It's not the push mower. It's not the weed whacker. What in the world is that sound? You know how you get to know the sounds. And so I get myself up and go downstairs.

And lo and behold, I see my wife in the garden with her father's tilling machine. Tilling the ground. And it's going. And she turns around and goes back. And it's plowing up the ground. And it's tearing up the ground.

And as I looked, I heard the Lord speak to me. After I got done laughing, I heard the Lord speak to me. And he said, behold, good ground. Good ground. Broken ground. And I prayed, oh God, give me a broken heart.

The Hard Heart Resists God's Voice

Now listen carefully. First of all, we have a hard heart. A hard heart, as illustrated here, it's the kind of soil that back in the old days, and even today, you know there's parts of our grass that are constantly walked on.

It becomes like a path. And you notice that if that pathway is walked on long enough, nothing grows there. It becomes hard. And even though seed is sown, if it hits that hard ground, it won't take root.

And brothers and sisters, I speak of these three conditions because one time or another, I've found myself in the throngs of one of these three conditions. And if I don't beg God daily, by all the grace that is available through the blood of Jesus, I will find myself falling into one or all three, all at the same time, of these kinds of hearts.

Now the Bible speaks of a hard heart, and it connects it to disobeying the voice of the Holy Spirit. Now I want you to turn your Bibles to Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 7. Again, He limits a certain day, saying to David, Today, after so long a time as it is said, Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.

Harden not your hearts. Every time we are confronted with an occasion when we become conscious of God speaking to us, either through His Word, or by the Holy Spirit convicting us, or we see something in a brother or a sister, and we sense God speaking into our life, perhaps about something that we're lacking, because we see that quality in someone else, every time we are hearing the voice of God, and we push it off and resist it, we are, in fact, like the footsteps walking in our heart.

And we're hardening it, and hardening it, and hardening it, and hardening it. And every time we do that, we are a little bit harder, a little bit more insensitive to the Lord Jesus Christ. What are you doing, brothers and sisters, with what God has spoken to you?

How much longer will we say, Tomorrow, Lord, I'll start. Tomorrow, Lord, is your heart hard this morning? Listen, listen, then it's not broken. It's not broken. Number two, an offended heart because of the Word.

The Offended Heart and the Cost of Following Jesus

An offended heart because of the Word. The Bible says that John the Baptist was in prison, and he had a feeling that he was going to lose his head because of Jesus Christ. And he gathered some of his disciples together, and you know what he did?

He said, You go and talk to Jesus, and you ask Him, Are you really the one that is to come, or are we to expect another one? Oh God, help us to hear. Help us to hear what you're saying. And Jesus then began to heal the sick, and He said, Go back and tell John that the dead are being raised, the blind are seeing, that the poor are hearing the kingdom of God.

Go and assure John, Yeah, I'm the one. I'm the one. And then he made this profound statement. He said, Blessed, blessed is the one who is not offended by me. And to be offended by the Word is very simple.

And I have been many times guilty of this heart condition, and have had to go to the Lord and pray, Lord, rescue me from this offended heart. To be offended is simply to recognize the costliness of saying yes to Jesus, and to decide that your life is more valuable than His, an offended heart.

Oh Lord, help me. The Bible says that there was a man named Demas, 2 Timothy. Let's turn there for a moment. We trace Demas through the Scriptures, and we find out that Demas traveled with Paul. He went on a number of missionary journeys with Paul.

He sat under the teaching of Paul. He no doubt was exposed to the teachings of Timothy, and to Titus, and to probably Apollos, and Barnabas, and other of the men that God raised up in the New Testament church.

He no doubt was a very blessed man. But the Bible makes a very, very fearful and challenging statement about Demas. 2 Timothy 4, verse number 10. 2 Timothy 4, verse number 10. An offended heart, for Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica.

Demas, his name, the word Demas, means, Gary, popular with the people. That's a little private joke, because several months ago we were talking about Demas, and I had asked if anybody knew what Demas meant.

And amazingly, Gary knew what it meant. He had just been doing his study. Can we see this? Listen. Do you know when an offended heart will snare us? When we want to be more popular with man, and we want their approval, and we want to save our own life, and we want to save our own necks, and we want to preserve our own way, more than we want the Lord to be glorified in our life, even when it means our loss, yea, even our death.

The Crowded Heart and Divided Attention

So we have a hard heart, which is not a broken heart. We have an offended heart, which is not a broken heart. And thirdly, we have a crowded heart. Martha, Martha, Jesus said, you are troubled about, what?

Martha, Martha, watch the crowded heart, Martha. Many things, but one thing is necessary. Brothers and sisters, one thing is necessary. And Mary hath chosen this, and it shall not be taken from her, is what Jesus said.

A crowded heart. Is your heart crowded this morning? Many things. Cares of this life. The deceitfulness of riches. The desire for many, many, many things. Busy, busy, busy, busy, busy. A crowded heart.

Listen, a crowded heart is not a broken heart. So what do we do? And so we have a hard heart, when we get into the habit of pushing off the still small voice of the Holy Spirit in our life. Then we have the offended heart.

I'm stumbling at the Lord's word, because it's too costly. And then we have the crowded heart. I'm just so busy. And lastly, we have the broken heart. The broken heart is the good heart. The broken heart not only receives God's word, but brings forth a harvest to the glory and honor of God.

Godly Sorrow Begins the Work of Brokenness

Now, we must look to the Lord, who alone is the broken one. And the beginning, listen please closely, this is a very general review of last week. The beginning of brokenness starts when we confess what?

We're not broken. Honesty. Yes, Lord. I find in my life a smorgasbord, Carrie, a combination of all of these different types of hearts that I have to wrestle with every day and look to my Lord to help me be rescued from.

And so the beginning of brokenness, as we learned last week, comes when we start to bereave. Bereavement. Sorrow. Listen. Number one, this is now the message of the blessedness of brokenness. Number one, it begins with the bereavement unto brokenness.

Sorrow unto brokenness. As we looked in Luke 16, we've ministered on it several times. Luke 16, verses 1, 2, and 3. Unfaithful steward. He was an unfaithful servant. That's a picture of us. We've been unfaithful.

We're guilty. Brokenness does not occur until the Holy Spirit, with His mighty heavenly power, lays hold of our life and produces in us a godly bereavement and sorrow over our true condition. And that's what leads to brokenness.

We read Psalm 51, where David shows us what true brokenness is. He cried out to God, God, have mercy upon me. O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly. Cleanse me. For I acknowledge my transgression and my sin as ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned. Do you see here the sorrow? Do you see the bereavement? Do you see the spirit-wrought conviction in this man's heart?

He no longer saw the sin of his brothers and sisters. He no longer complained about the injustices that were being done to him. He no longer focused his efforts on trying to point out everyone else's sins to them.

But he broke. He broke under the power of God. And he said, I'm the man. I'm the one. Have mercy upon me. And it was in the bereaved, sorrowful heart that God birthed brokenness. This leads us... Now listen please, listen please.

Brokenness as the Ground of Spiritual Blessing

A hard heart, an offended heart, and a crowded heart keep us from a broken heart. But a broken heart is the posture from which all the spiritual blessings that God has given us in Christ becomes available to us.

And so once the Holy Spirit has produced the godly sorrow in us that produces a state of brokenness which is, Lord, I'm all wrong and You're all right. Brokenness is the creature no longer claiming innocence before God.

No longer claiming innocence before one another. How many times do you feud with someone that you love and the root of the feud is I'm not wrong, you are. Hello? I'm not wrong, you are. And even if you are right, your attitude's wrong.

So you're both wrong. And the first thing you've got to do is not get it right with each other but get it right with God. That's why we can't get right with one another. Because we're not both acknowledging that we need to get right with God.

A broken heart will not demand it's right. And even when it is, it'll be so soft and gentle and tender, it'll find a reason to admit guilt too. Even when you're right, you're wrong. Are you willing to go that far for the sake of unity?

Even when you're right, you're wrong. Oh, brother, that's not true. It's not? Oh, then you're right. You stand just before God. There's no sin in you. You've never blown it. Your attitude is perfectly holy without anything wrong.

Is that so? But we don't want to be wrong when we're right, do we? Because when we're right, we're right. Why should I be wrong when I'm right? Is that a broken heart? No. That's got the smell of Satan in it.

That's got the smell of I will. I'm going to exalt myself. I'm going to hurt you so that I can be right. I'm going to wound you so I can be right. Come on, is that Christ? Is that the Spirit of Christ?

What kind of heart is that? Sounds like a hard heart to me. A heart that has repeatedly wanted to claim innocence. Let me just say something about this innocence. The Lord gave me something and it seems appropriate.

God's Word Exposes Self-Righteousness

Listen, please. Remember this morning when we started, the Lord showed us that He wanted to focus on our hearts. Is He a surgeon now? Is He going deep? How is He going deep? Does it hurt? Well, if it hurts, then you thank God that it hurts.

You thank God that it hurts and you say thank you, Lord, that it hurts and thank you that there's a healing balm in Gilead. Thank you that there's healing with this hurt. The Bible says the Word of God is what?

Like a dull play knife? No, the Word of God is sharp and powerful. Sharper than any two-edged sword. The Word of God plunges into the depths of our being and exposes us for what we are. The righteousness that comes by the blood of Jesus comes when we seek God's mercy as guilty sinners.

The good Christian righteousness is our claim of innocence. We're not guilty. And by our own innocence, we come before God or before one another. If you're finding it hard to approach God this very day as a guilty sinner, having no innocence in yourself, then you are yet trying to approach God on your own goodness and righteousness.

Self-righteousness is when we come before God and one another and we show them our innocence rather than our guilt. Self-righteousness is the unwillingness to admit we're wrong even when we're right.

Being right doesn't make you innocent. It's grace that you might be right because God has helped you to see clearly. But that doesn't make you innocent. That makes you right but guilty. And admit your guilt so your brother doesn't think you're holier than he or she is.

You're no better than anyone else. And the deception of our heart is this. When we know we're right about something, that makes us think we become innocent. Being right doesn't make us innocent. Being right only should break us and humble us and make us say, how is it that I could see clearly about this when I am more guilty than you are?

Does this offend you? Sounds like an offended heart. Why? It's too costly, brother. I can't give up my appearance. I can't give up my good Christian righteousness. I can't let her be right. I'm right.

Freedom Through Confessing Guilt and Receiving Righteousness

You want to know why there's very little love and unity in the body of Christ? Huh? And we don't want to be wrong. And we don't want to show our dirty clothes to anyone. If I seek a right standing before God based on anything other than the blood of Jesus being applied to my guilt, then I am seeking self-righteous position before God.

And here's the last part on this whole issue of are you innocent or guilty? I can never be more right before God than when I come as a sinner and admit my guilt. I'm sure we heard that. I'll say it again.

I can never be more right before God than to come as a sinner and admit my guilt. Because in such a state, I am given the righteousness of God by faith. And the righteousness of God by faith far exceeds my own righteousness, which is a righteousness that I give to God when I claim innocence.

There is a burden on our backs that God wants to break. The burden is the fear of losing our own righteousness in God's eyes and in others' eyes. But Jesus is here, and He is assuring us most solemnly that if we would bow the neck and heart before Him and lose our own filthy self-righteousness, which is rooted in the idea that I'm right and I'm innocent, and if we would just come to Him and beg Him to break that noose, that satanic stronghold out of our life, we would come into the good of what Pilgrim came into when when he came to Calvary, the burden jumped off his back and he lifted up his voice and shouted, Hallelujah to God, I'm free!

I'm free! Do you want to be free this morning? Then admit your guilt before God. Admit your guilt before your husband, before your wife, before your children, before the whole world. Don't claim your innocence.

Claim your guilt. And you'll find joy and freedom when God gives you the righteousness of God. And then when you are right, walk softly. Walk ever so softly because your rightness doesn't make you innocent.

You're still unclean in yourself. If anyone is overtaken in a fall, you who are spiritual, restore such a one. How? In the spirit of meekness.

Why? Considering yourself. Why? Because you are just as vulnerable.

To fall into the very fault and sin that you are seeking to help your brother out of. The absence of meekness is a sign that we think we're innocent or above what we see in our brother. You know why, as parents, we're so harsh to our children?

I hope we have steel tip-toes shoes on now. Do you know why?