Brokenness: The Heart God Revives, Part 2

Series: Brokenness: The Heart God Revives

Leslie Basham: Jesus ate and spent time with sinners, but His harshest words were aimed at the religious leaders of His day. Why is that?

You're listening to Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss for Tuesday, July 23.

If you were alive when Jesus walked this earth, do you think you would be among the poor, sick and needy people that Jesus ministered to the most? Or would you be among the religious people that Jesus rebuked? Today, we'll hear about the difference between two kinds of people that Jesus encountered. To introduce today's message we have a special guest. Here's Bob Lepine, co-host of FamilyLife Today.

Bob Lepine: In the summer of 1995, I had the opportunity to be present along with thousands of other staff members of Campus Crusade for Christ. Together, we heard Nancy Leigh DeMoss speak on the subject of brokenness. The title of her message that day was "What Kind of Heart Does God Revive?" And with biblical precision, she took us to the heart of the issue and asked us to examine our own hearts to see whether we are proud people or broken people.

Yesterday, we heard Part One of that compelling message. I know that if you had a chance to listen, you were personally challenged by what Nancy had to share. Let's listen again today to Part Two of Nancy Leigh DeMoss's message, "What Kind of Heart Does God Revive?"

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: The Gospel of Luke gives us three wonderful illustrations of the contrast between a broken person and a proud, unbroken person. Do you remember the parable that Jesus told? And the Scripture tells us that He told this parable to those who were confident of their own righteousness and looking down on everyone else. He told of two men who came into the temple to pray.

Remember this in Luke 18. The one was a Pharisee. As he stood to pray, the Scripture says he prayed to himself. And his prayer consisted of looking around at all the adulterers and the thieves and the murderers that he knew and then at this lowly tax collector by his side and saying, "Oh God, I thank You that I compare favorably to all these other sinners that I know."

And there by his side was a lowly, despised tax collector that could not even lift his eyes to heaven. But in the presence of the holiness of God, he smote his breast and said, "Oh, God, the only thing I can ask You for is to have mercy, for I'm a sinner." He refused to justify himself, rather he justified God.

Luke 7, we read the story of Jesus being invited for dinner at the home of Simon the Pharisee. The Scripture tells us that there was a woman who had lived a sinful lifestyle in that town. Apparently it was widely known. And when she heard that Jesus had come to the home of Simon the Pharisee for dinner, she came into that home, presumably uninvited, bearing with her an alabaster jar of perfume. She went immediately to the feet of Jesus as He lay there reclining at dinner.

The Scripture says that she stood behind Him, at His feet. You'll notice that everything this sinner woman did was at the feet of Jesus. She stood behind Him at his feet weeping--a picture, I believe, of the brokenness and the repentance of her heart, before she even came into that place. And then as her tears begin to fall on the feet of Jesus, she lowered herself to wipe the tears off His feet with her hair--I believe a picture of the forgiveness that she had experienced as Jesus had wiped her sinful heart clean.

And then, in the freedom of her heart, regardless of anyone else around her--what they thought--she kneeled further to kiss the feet of Jesus, to worship Him, to love Him and then took the alabaster jar and poured the perfumed ointment on the feet of Jesus. And she cast herself, in a broken, contrite spirit before Him.

Now, Simon the Pharisee, is a picture to us of a proud, unbroken man who was incensed by all of this and said within himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who was touching him and what kind of woman she is, that she is a sinner." Well, not only did Jesus know what kind of woman she was, but Jesus also knew what kind of sinner he was.

And so Jesus spoke, as you remember, and said, "Simon, I've something to tell you."

"Tell me teacher," he said.

And Jesus, you remember told the story of two men who owed a moneylender amounts of money. One owed an extravagant amount and the other just a paltry amount, but neither had anything to pay. So the moneylender forgave them both their debts. And Jesus said to Simon, "Now which of them will love this man more?" Simon said, "The one, I suppose, who had the bigger debt canceled."

Jesus said, "You understand that correctly. But there is something that you haven't understood about me." He turned to the woman, and He said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, just a common courtesy. But she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. Simon, you didn't give me a kiss, a handshake of greeting. But this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore I tell you, her sin, her many sins have been forgiven, for she loved much."

Do you suppose that Simon had less to be forgiven than did this woman of the street? I think not. They were both sinners. The only difference was that she knew she was.

One more illustration in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 15: Jesus gave three parables, and we're told in the first verse who was in His audience. There were two groups of people in that audience. There were the publicans and sinners, the tax collectors and sinners. And we're told they came to hear Jesus. They eagerly hung on His every word. They needed Him and they knew they needed Him.

Then there was another group over on the sidelines, the Pharisees and the Scribes, the teachers of the Law, and they were doing their typical ordinary thing. They were muttering and murmuring and criticizing. "Can you believe this man welcomed sinners and eats with them?"

But Jesus told three parables, speaking to the two segments of His audience. And I would say in this audience today, every one of us in our hearts falls into one of these two categories. He spoke first of the lost sheep and then of the lost coin and then of the lost son. He told of the two brothers and how the younger of them had a proud, rebellious, stubborn, wayward heart. He took his share of the inheritance and went off into a far land where he wasted it all in riotous living.

But after he had spent everything, he began to be in need. It's often our need that leads us to the pathway of brokenness and repentance. And, finally, having no more resources of his own, having tried everything possible to make a living himself, now destitute and poverty-stricken, the Scripture says that this young man became broken.

And in his brokenness, it says he came to his senses, he came to himself, he became honest and acknowledged his true condition. He said, "I will arise. I will go to my father." This is a step of repentance, turning from going my own way and going in the way to the father. And then he determined to make appropriate confession. "I will say to my father, 'I have sinned against heaven and I have sinned against you.'" Then he determined to say to his father, though his father never gave him the chance to say the words, "I am not worthy to be your son. Just let me be one of your hired servants."

And you know how the father welcomed his son, embraced him. The father-heart of God reaches out to, longs for, welcomes and embraces broken-hearted sinners. "Put the best cloak on him, the sandals, the ring, let's have a party, let's celebrate."

I think, however, we're not as familiar with the latter half of this story. There was another brother, the elder brother. The scripture tells us in the 25th verse of Luke 15 that the older son, meanwhile, was out in the field. He was the good boy. He was out there doing what he was supposed to do, being faithful, working hard--he had never been wayward. He had never been rebellious, outwardly. He was faithful and hard-working.

Here is this faithful, hard-working son out in the field; and he comes near the house and he hears music and dancing. And rather than going to the source to find out what's really happening, he goes to a servant and says, "What's happening?" The servant tells him the facts but not the truth. And proud unbroken people don't want the truth. The servant said, "Your rotten brother came home and your father's got a party going for him."

He didn't say, "Your brother, do you remember how he left so high and mighty and haughty? He's come back but he's not the same person. He's broken. He's humble. He's repentant. He hadn't had a good meal for ages. He's at the end of everything, but his heart is broken. And your father's forgiven him. And it's time to celebrate."

The elder brother heard that the younger brother had come home. And he couldn't rejoice in the boys' return. The father, hearing of the anger of the elder brother, left the party. And I'm told that in a Jewish family that when the father left that the party had to stop while the father went out to deal with the proud, unbroken elder brother. And isn't that like so many of our ministries and churches and fellowships today? There's no celebration going on, no joy, because we're having to deal with all the proud, unbroken, angry, resentful "with God" people.

Leslie Basham: Perhaps you've always seen yourself as a good person and have never come face to face with your sin. Nancy DeMoss has challenged us to get real with our need for God and come to Him with a broken heart. She will be right back to pray with us.

Nancy has a real passion for this topic and has just written a book called, Brokenness, the Heart God Revives. This book will help you evaluate whether you're relying on your own strength or trusting entirely on God. You can get a copy of Brokenness, the Heart God Revives for a suggested donation of $10, when you call us at 1-800-569-5959.

We also have this week's message on cassette and you can get both the book and the tape packaged together for a discounted price. When you order or make a donation of any size, we'll send you a bookmark as our way of saying thanks. It's based on Nancy's new book and you can see what it looks like by visiting ReviveOurHearts.com. You can also make a donation on our Web site or mail your letter to Revive Our Hearts.

We hope you can be back tomorrow. Nancy will list the differences between proud people and broken people. See where you fit in on the list. Now, to pray with us, here's Nancy.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Father, thank You for giving us in Your Word such clear, practical examples of what it means to be a person with a broken and humble heart. And if we've looked at these illustrations from Your Word, we confess, I confess, that so often my heart is more like those proud, stubborn, self-righteous Pharisees than like the broken-hearted, humble person. Lord, we recognize that far more damage has been done to the cause of Christ and in our churches by proud, unbroken men and women than has ever been done by sinners outside the church. So, Lord, would You grant us the heart of repentance and true brokenness.

I just tell You, Lord, that I want to have the heart of that sinner woman in Luke, chapter 7 and the heart of that Prodigal Son that comes back repentant and broken and humble before You. Oh, Lord, grant us the freedom of love and of worship and of expression of our adoration towards You. It comes out of hearts that know how much we've been forgiven. Lord, we ask that You would, by Your spirit, do that work of grace in our hearts. Do it in my heart, Lord. I pray for that heart of brokenness, the heart that You revive. For Jesus' sake, I pray it. Amen.

Leslie Basham:

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss is a ministry partnership of Life Action Ministries.

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