A Contrite Heart and a Broken Spirit

so this morning I want to talk to you about the reason why Christ is for some just words and the Bible for some just fable or nice story or some distant truth and the reality of heaven something not comprehendible a foreigner to the realities of spiritual truth and spiritual life why is it what is it that the Lord is looking for we find many people in a cultural Christianity basically understanding the principles of Christianity and making confession with their lips understanding that Christ died for sinners but not experiencing the power of it not understanding the reality of spiritual life was in themselves there is a reason for that there's something that God is looking for in each and every person and there's a reason why there is such an obstacle to us getting to the place that the Lord wants us to be like you know you know the whole world I always say in the modern era at least celebrate Christmas and when you ask them what Christmas all about they'll say look it's about a savior who died for the sins of men even in China I found that they everywhere now have Christmas but I don't see seven billion people saved and the reason for that's very simple because seven billion people don't believe that they are the sinners who need salvation so the problem is indeed that the man needs to have an attitude of heart where he came to the end of himself with the Lord can in actual fact confront him with who he really is because in the reality the Bible tells us you know that all men while they live are mad and I know he knew that men are mad and insane in self-righteousness and the Bible tells us also that every man is right and righteous in his own eyes and so you don't need to apply the balm of Gilead because you don't believe you need it and so the Lord will meet a specific hearts attitude and that's what I want to look at today and we start off with a song around a contrite heart and a broken spirit I think very few people understand what that in actual fact means and I've actually done a little bit of translating for you out of the Hebrews so that you can all see what is this contrite heart and what is a broken spirit and what is the obstacle to it why is it that I must say like job you know job said in the beginning of his life through years I have I heard about you but then job went through what job went through and he was tripped of everything and then he said three years I have I heard about you but now I've seen you with my own eyes why is it that it takes so long to see God with our own eyes what is it that keeps us from it and why are we embedded why why are we sick in our ways why do we make ourselves believe we're right when we not why would do we live under false peace why is it that some men have to threaten us with perdition it works for a while and then people fall back again let's see when we got to Psalm 51 verse 16 we read as follows for you delight not in sacrifice what else would I give it you find no pleasure in burnt offering in other words nothing that you can do or nothing that you can give up is what the Lord wants nothing my sacrifice the sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart broken down with sorrowful sin and humbly and thoroughly penitent such Oh God you will not despise he's saying to us no matter what you give I always equate this to a marriage conflict you see husband and wife had a nice conflict he leaves comes back later with flowers and a booking for a movie for the evening never says he's sorry never it means never changes this gift the gifts is it going to work if you're going to work you can't buy forgiveness and so he's telling us the Lord's not looking for you to try and buy something he's looking for a hearts attitude and that hot attitude which he will meet the one way you will meet God in spirit and truth and not just know about him his heart attitude which is contrite and a broken spirit and but let's see what it means he says you will not despise someone like that so what is it number one that keeps us from having that attitude is called pride pride self-righteousness and pride I don't need it I've heard it all before I'm not they I'm fine I've made my confession but the heart is unchanged and this is why the church is filled with with informed sinners they just confess but they don't have life there are strangers to the life of God a man in fact the Bible tells us that in the book of Timothy they have an image of godliness but no power now the word broken literally means this to break in pieces let's go back to the verse he's saying a broken spirit doesn't mean he breaks your personality there's something that is looking for that's something that's broken in pieces that's rained violently that's crushed and Queens that's ruptured and that is shattered let's think about this it's only going to make sense when I look at the second word it is saying he is looking for a broken spirit in a contrite heart so these two words go together broken and contrite let's see what contrite means it's an amazing Hebrew word DAF car crushed broken contract it means to pound or beat until Christ as into a powder he wants a contrite heart it means it's something that was previously hard now the example that the dictionary gives is of talcum the the the rock in itself magnesium silicate is very hard and not very useful not very useful until you crush it have you ever smelled baby powder just the talcum powder itself has a smell and it's actually a little bit sweet almost and here we see what it means out of something hard and harsh comes something soft fragrant beautiful when it is contrite or finely crushed form in other words the Lord says look the one I will not shun away is one who has a rent heart and is broken now what does that mean you see don't be misled it doesn't mean that you are now full of tears because you filed full of tears because your life doesn't work out it is somebody who understands something of his own heart's condition he finally came to himself it's somebody who finally has been stripped of his ego his pride and self-righteousness to look at himself and but there is actually in my life a history of failure these perpetuation of sin even though I claim I'm a Christian there is a perpetuation of habitual sin I do something I cry about it I repent but I keep on doing it so the it couldn't be real what I want to convey to you is that there is a great disappointment for many who came to the confession of Christ but they are strangers to the power that regenerates them and they think to themselves is this the all there is this doesn't what it how is it that I can face Christ and yet be under the power of sin how can I confess Christ and yet keep on like a dog going back to its own vomit I spirit out only to take it back again the reason for that is this this lack of brokenness we remain is really clear about who he is and that work is the work that the Lord does through his word and his spirit and the teaching of the word the hearing of the word where he can confront me where light comes and I can see and so he's looking for that which is broken on the inside not destroyed personality but brokenness from arrogance self-righteousness and pride and so in Jeremiah 23:29 worried it's not he's not my word like a fire since the Lord and like a hammer that breaks in pieces of the rock you see the word by empowered by the Holy Spirit will break the hardness the rock which is in every man and don't be fooled every man every one of us Co is with the first Adam Romans 5:12 says what through one man sin came into the world through sin death and they've spread to all men and so we said here we said the problem with this is we can't see we can't see and so this thing rules our lives and I'm going to explain it shortly the next point to highlight again some 3418 the Lord is closed to those who are of broken heart again the same principle and say such as are crushed with sorrow again you get this contrite heart crushed with sorrowful sin you see you get many people who are tearful over what they've done but they tears or out of a selfish motive this their public status has been ruined they have damaged their own estate they have suffered some worldly losses they've been caught out etcetera etcetera all of these selfish motives but the hearts not crushed it's just tearful because of its own personal loss as I've explained before a man gets caught out and because it's caught out he's all of a sudden full of remorse but not full of repentance and this is what you need to understand crash traceur Eccleston and are humbly and thoroughly penitent I want you to see previous verse as well every single time when you've got a contrite heart something that is crushed to powder it's that old self life and this another word that coexist with it in every verse is called humility you see we all work hard all of us to buy things with money we don't have to impress people we don't know and don't care about quite frankly but we all work hard on our little image and it's a great thing for the law to strip us of what we think about ourselves and bring us to a place where we see look at the rest everything is a facade but who am i in actual fact in the sight of the Lord what does he see and that's the problem when the lights go on and my eyes are opened there's nothing else but to be broken there's nothing else but to have brokenness because you finally seen you think God have I've been doing all of this in your sight and you have extended your grace towards me all this time and I've been acting like this all the time as I 57:15 for less is the high and lofty one who enables the Eternity whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place he dwells in two places look at but also him also who is of a pharoah penitent contrite humble spirit you see again over and over you get this word contract again I remind you it's when you crush a stone to powder and it's when a man allows the Lord like King David to be searched to be shown who he is in actual fact not who he thinks he is because every man will testify of himself that he is the most excellent of creatures but the day when you can say like Paul listen I'm the worst of all sinners that's the day that your heart is in the right place to receive the resurrection life before the unit will be only a confession and you'll be a stranger to the reality of it he says yeah to revive the spirit of the humble again you get the word humble to revive the heart of the farily penitent those who repent verse 16 he's not there to break us please you got to understand this it's not to destroy men but it has to remove that hardened piece of selfishness within us for if I will not contend for for I will not contain forever neither will I be angry or was for if I did stay angry the spirit of man would find and be consumed before me and my purpose in creating the souls of men would be frustrated these creators for himself but they something that keeps us away from the reality of God which is that old Adamic nature which is self and as hard as rock self-righteous and stubborn cantankerous unyielding and twisting whatever they hear that's what we need to see the Lord wants out there's only one place where you will meet us and that is in in that place where the heart is broken in as I 61 verse 1 the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed and qualified with the preach the good news the good tiding to the blue meek to the meek that somebody who is lowly of spirit in case you didn't know the poor and afflicted he has seen me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted it's again the same concept what broken heart are they're just having a hard time in life and therefore he came to comfort them no no these people are brokenhearted exactly for the reason I've pointed out because they have a contrite heart over their own state and because they can see he's the one that will meet them in their meekness to heal them and then he's also they to open the eyes of those who are bound and I want you to see that verse very important men and women are bound under the power of sin but they can't see it because the men and women walk in darkness he is the only light and when he comes is the only one that can show you that you are bound until then you can't see it and so we need to see what the scriptures are saying about it and I'm going to elaborate shortly verse two of Isaiah 66 says for all those things are things have mine hands made and all those things have been sick say is the Lord but to this man will I look now I'm very curious when he says to who you will look which men who will he look to do this man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and tremble of that my word now why tremble there's a godly fear I hear what the Lord says I see myself in the light of his truth and my heart is broken and rent because I discover myself finally it's so interesting how long it takes for us sometimes to come to the insight of what the Bible has been saying all along that there is a nature within a man that binds him up under the power of sin and he can't deliver himself from it so what do we need to see in the light of this there's nothing that you and I can do to deliver ourselves because the Bible that lays in our science as I 64 verse 6 we have all become like the one who is unclean all of us and all our righteousness you know that's whatever I try and do in the light of this is like for theoretics or a polluted garment we all fade like a leave and our iniquities like the wind take us away what are the sudden we become the slaves of sin and that will take us where we don't want to go like the wind blows away and even the leaves not in control of it so once a man is bound under the paracin he will just blow away and end up where he didn't determine himself and then we got to see in all of this up to this point we see that the Lord wants a contrite heart and a broken spirit and we understand clearly what that is but there's something that he's against and then the book of James chapter 4 verse 6 we read but he gives us more and more grace and the second part of the verse that is why he says God sets himself against the proud and haughty but gives grace to the lowly so here it should be clear to you that when a man sets himself up in resistance against the Word of God with all kinds of reasonings his heart will never change he will not have that broken heart it's also a decision where a man must say Lord search me know my heart show me I can't live the way I love because it's clearly in my fruit that I'm not where I supposed to be so quickly for your sake I have repeated this previously in other sermons but for continuity and what I'm saying today I need you to understand something where does it come from it's not difficult often people ask how did Satan fall was he made with a flaw well we see Isaiah Ezekiel 28 now as I 14 describes the fall of Satan he was made perfect in all his ways he was a free moral agent he was given the freedom to choose between God and self there was no outside temptation there was no outside evil he owned yet one of two choices because they had a free will choose God or choose self and he chose self and he said five times I will exalt myself above the stars of God I will sit in the Assembly of the North I will rise up about the clouds of heaven etc five times in other words pride is the turning away from God towards self and then the same thing gets repeated in the garden where he tells the woman look God lying you'll be like God and he gets the human beings Adam and Eve to turn away from God and towards self and as a consequence pride rules in the heart of all the children of Adam every single one however compliant you look to religion however well you have adjusted yourself to cultural Christianity pride store rules they as a matter of fact once you are cultural Christians pride is even worse because now we proud we are proud about the fact that we are even Christians when we're not really Christians by the new birth anyway so that's the story that unfolds itself yeah and then we find this reason why pride remains in the heart this is the reason why we cannot have a contrite heart and a broken spirit we are doing exactly whatever Adam was doing from the beginning and let me show you what was he doing and and I'll show you Genesis 3 verse 6 we read the woman fell she saw the the three things lust of the eyes love the flesh and the pride of life that's what took her out and the in verse 7 starts the excuses the eyes of them both were opened and they saw that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together so cover up first thing we do is cover up we don't bring it to the light we cover it up next thing we do they hid themselves they heard the Lord in the garden heat themselves cover up and hide that's what we do if that doesn't work what do we do the man said well the woman well we blame other people so hide cover blame other people and we take it to another extreme he says the woman you gave me we blame God hide cover-up blame other people blame God and if that all fails then what do we do well the serpent beguiled me the five things we do that keeps the heart in its arrogant proud state and I want you to see that hide cover up blame others blame God blame the devil everybody but me so soft life is sustained pride is sustained and you know what the long and short of this whole thing is the guilty becomes the victim the guilty becomes the victim life made me this way you know I'm all bitter and all but the Lord understands and you know what bitter people do you know what hurt people do who've been hurt by other people's sin they justify themselves and they send in the response now I'm justified to do what I'm doing because you did this to me the Lord understands I'm just playing the equalizer the guilty becomes the victim and because the guilty remains the victim and refuses to look in his heart cannot be broken for the reality of who he is for the sake of the video and I'm sorry to mention it the best example that I can always use is for a long time I worked in an anti abortion clinic and I had to deal with a number of girls who already had these abortions and now they trying to do it again and they are bound up and one would think that she would need comfort in a hour of trial that we should understand and it's always the same message if you want to be free if you want to really be delivered I can't give you comfort for why you did what you did I'm as a matter of fact going to bring you the truth the only way that you're going to be delivered from the fact that you did what you did in the past is to acknowledge that you're a murderer you destroyed life and if you can acknowledge that the Lord can meet you but until you resist that acknowledgment until you justify yourself for whatever reason and you are the guilty but you are the victim how can you be helped it's an extreme example and sounds loveless but it's the greatest love of all to help the guilty to see that they are guilty to see the light and to humble themselves before the Lord because in the place of humility is a place where we are delivered you see that and that's the story of Genesis quickly so the Lord wants a contrite heart and a broken spirit but by nature we are not easily yielding to his will and unfortunately sometimes he has to put us you know on a little bit of a gravel road and we start to run out of plans and we finally are brought to the end of hims ourselves by His great mercy and then most people even in that place of despair would blame the Lord instead of looking in to find the common factor of their failure in the mirror in the bathroom so here we go it leases equal easiest is 8/11 because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily the heart of the sons of men are foolish to be evil though a sinner does evil a hundred times any day seemingly are prolonged in his wickedness yet surely I know that it will be well with those who fear God you see what happens is there are no repercussions I'm doing well I'm not suffering anything I'm actually prospering as far as the world is concerned so I must be okay and people equate material success with spirituality and must take their own spiritual state because it's going well with me as far as the world is concerned doesn't mean I'm right with God just look at your fruit you are what you are when you're alone or just ask your wife she'll tell you she'll be testimony to the fact that you are right or wrong with God because it's the interesting thing that almost the whole world knows what a Christian should look like and you always get this accusation well if that's a Christian I don't want to be a Christian isn't it well then you know what a Christian should be like why aren't you the one no no no I don't want to be like that if they are Christians conscience convicts you that there is a standard revelations 3:17 for you say I'm rich and this is the problem with the proud heart the one we inherited all of us from Adam for you say I'm rich I have prospered I've grown well seen I'm in need of nothing and you do not realize and understand that you are wretched miserable poor blind naked now that's a state of fallenness you say you're right but you're wrong can you see it's possible can you see we can do that we know he's addressing the church but he's addressing the people in the church making a Michael point that there are a number of people who think they are right but they are not washed from their own fault it's a self-righteousness and for that reason they don't know the life of God let me tell you the gospel of Jesus Christ is a to set us free from our miserable existence the kingdom of God is righteousness peace joy in the Holy Ghost it's his kingdom and it rules and reigns in some of your hearts like you know you have found Christ in spirit and truth but for some it's a fast bite Club it's a lemon sucking thing hoping you'll make it that's a delusion there's no certainty there's no joy there's no peace and you know how it works if your relationship with the Lord is not right it will show in your relationships with people they will suffer if you're under condemnation with God you will bring others under condemnation if you're under legalist conduct with God you will bring others under rules and regulations but if you're forgiven you're quick to forgive if you are left you will quickly love others if you are redeemed you will love to redeem it's very simple your letter your life horizontally reflects your stake with God it's how it works that's why I say ask your wife so 40 verse 7 gird up your loins now like a man and and I will demand a few and you answer me here's the point the man who is proud of heart unbroken without a contrite heart crushed over his own true state not crushed and destroyed in personality will you also annul and set aside and read and avoid my judgment will you condemn me your God that you may appear righteous and justified you see what most people do with the heart unbroken and they change the content of Scripture well I don't think God would do that because I won't do it I think altogether that God is a man and he says you fought all together that I was such a one as yourself and so we bring God down to our level and we justify ourselves and in the process condemn God and a humble heart is what is required to see that weaker might be set free so what does the Lord want what does the Lord want in Psalm 51 verse 6 behold you desire truth in the inner being this my dear friends is not Cremora religion the old Cremora story they had remember Cremora is not in the refrigerator is not inside is on top well it's not inside of the heart of most men and woman it's on top but this is not a Cremora religion the Lord wants truth in the inner being and that's where it hurts listen none of us wants to be told that we're in a fallen state that we're under the power of sin none of us wants to be told that we are not righteous as we thought we were none of us wants to be told that a mere confession is not Christianity in reality none of us wants to be told that complying to rules and regulations or taking the sacraments doesn't save me something has to happen a transaction in the inner part in the inner man by the word and the spirit that will change my nature permanently unfortunate for mouth most people because they read the word and they don't understand and for them somehow they globally read over the reality of what a Christian should be like they miss Galatians 5 the fruit of the flesh or and he gives a wholeness the hatred anger malice party spirit etc and then he warns at the end I warn you like I've did before all those who do these things shall not inherit the kingdom of God and then you see I've only ticked 4 out of the 10 I wonder if I'll make it no no no you see you do these things you're gone but he's not saying that to condemn us he's saying that to show us something how can you call yourself righteous but you have the fruit of the flesh because something has to happen on the inside a transaction right I'm humbly I need to come to the end of myself and so we see the word of God in Hebrews 4:12 is that thing that the Lord uses to cut asunder to bring discernment judgment between the thoughts of the mind and the thoughts of the Spirit and the Lord uses that and here's the disturbing thing what he's looking for one Sam samuel 16:7 but the Lord said to Samuel look not on his appearance or his height of a statue for I have rejected him look carefully what the Lord says for the Lord sees not as man sees you can look good on the outside for man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart there's nothing that you can hide from him as a matter of fact in 1 chronicles 28:9 and you Solomon my son know the God of your father's let's see for the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts somehow men believe that they can hide these things from the Lord and it's the inner part that he wants us to be honest and truthful about when we take up you know why there is such an attack on the Word of God because it's the only book in the world that will tell you who God really is who your enemy really is and who you really are as a matter of fact it starts with a sad story I remember before I really got sight when I opened that book it would condemn me I didn't want to read it so no man let me you know what I used to do I used to say okay God you know I really want to be your child but you need to speak to me brother speak to me Lord he went and hanged himself no no no later go and do likewise huh okay it doesn't work but every time I open it it condemns me it's supposed to do that it's the only book that will tell you your true nature and then you feel condemned you run to a psychologist that will tell you man it's wrong to feel bad listen it's called the even gaily on the good news why would you need good news if you don't have bad news first why would you need good news if you're not in a bad state please so it cuts first and then it sets free but most people don't want to allow that cutting it's not pleasant and so the Lord is looking for a contrite heart one that is crushed over its own state that finally says okay Lord not a deathbed conversion when a man is desperately grasping at straws but one that is truthful and honest while he still has a strength so we look at the next point what the Lord is looking at King David said in Psalm 139 23 search me O God know my heart try me and know my thoughts do you know most people struggle even as they grow older to understand everything of their own hearts and minds I don't know why did that well because of your nature but anyway you don't know so the Bible tells us King David prayed very clearly search me O God because if I search myself I will justify myself when I come out of the test result it will look good but he says Lord you search me try me and know my thoughts see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me so the Lord will show you and then lead me in the way everlasting can he lead himself out can a man save himself even if you see the wickedness you can't deliver yourself from it and that's a scene you need to get to right Jeremiah 10:23 oh Lord I know that the way of a man is not in himself is not in him even in a strong man or a man that is best to direct his own steps Oh Lord correct instruct and chastise me he's actually saying a man doesn't understand himself really I need you to correct me just ëismí but with judgment and in just measure look yeah not in anger lest you dismiss me and bring me to nothing it actually says in the other translation not in your anger lest you have to destroy me in other words here's a man that understood clearly he can't understand his own way he needs the Lord to work within him and then also to deal with him according to his judgments that he might be delivered listen each one of us needs this work the Bible's very clear the Lord will meet the man who is of a contrite heart many people say sorry for this son only to do it again because why there is no real contrition there is no real brokenness because they still can't see that they by nature are at enmity with God that's why the gospel doesn't work that was just a confession a fairy tale a story for most [Music] before a man can come to God in each to come to himself he needs to come to that inside where am i and to be truthful about it and to be broken about it because that man is humility will God meet he never rejected a humble sinner he won't but he always resisted the Pharisees leave me alone I know where I'm standing with God it's between me and God well if it's between you and God it's showing in your action the fruit stinks the public can see it might be between you and God but the evidence is not there before a man can reconcile himself with God he first needs to come to himself with a clear understanding of his own moral condition to make the point quickly I want to look at the prodigal son and look at this are you guys still okay I know it's hot but you know deal with it Luke 1514 and weenie had spent all he had so number one a man comes to the end of his resources he spent all he had and this might be in a emotional spiritual sense a mighty famine came upon the country so what is the Lord doing there's no way out he brings him into that depth have you ever seen that sheep depth you know there's no way out on the sides you can't get over the fence you're gonna go through this thing so fallback position is removed his own strength is removed okay so he went and forced include himself upon the citizens of that country who sent him into the field to feed hogs the man is brought low because as far as Jewish concerned nothing is as bad as being in the presence of pigs now ha ha now he's gotta go work they and feed them so he's brought to the lowest point he comes to the end of his resources there is no fallback position for him and he's brought low and he would gladly have fed and fold his belly with the carob pods that the Hawks were eating but nobody gave him anything now look at verse 17 when his resources his own strength failed him there was no more back out and strength on which he could could lean and when he was brought low something finally happened to him then he came to himself isn't it true that in our senseless existence we rush through everyday without even thinking what is our true state before God and what is our destiny we place little value on our souls and rush to get the next thing done and we are not held accountable by conscience because we just hush it up with noise and busyness and tea parties and you know nice social things I never think and somehow the Lord has to intervene to bring this man to bankruptcy in the natural to finally understand the bankruptcy of his spirit take note take careful note and then he said the following verse 18 I will get up and go to my father and I will say to him father I've sinned against heaven and in your sight what is he now doing humbling himself and what is he saying I have sinned against heaven and I want you to understand any man that has a contrite heart understands one thing that his son is against God [Music] his primary transgression is against God and His Holiness when you see yourself in the light of who God is you will be brought low I'm no longer worthy to be called your son what is this man all of a sudden remember first initially at the story quite arrogant insisting on his birthright listen I'm don't want to wait till you die I want my cake and eat it now please very arrogant very insistent he was given his portion and he squandered it now look at the attitude now look at it I'm not worthy to be called your son or be a servant outside but at least I know I can eat here you deal well with your servants you see the difference all of a sudden they a brokenness had to come before the man could see his foolishness he was contrite of heart he wept over his own condition now just to make the point what is it that we need to see what brings that contrite heart what is it that Paul saw Romans 7 for some quite a difficult portion of Scripture but actually very plain the first point I want to make in Romans 7 verse 7 I should not have recognized sin or have known its meaning I shouldn't have known about covetousness unless the law said it so first what he sees let me show you how it works first he sees sins in the periphery he sees things he does wrong right most of us do that oh look I'm so sorry I'll tell you by way of example we've helped a young man a while ago who came out of really terrible immoral lifestyle and he said you know what it's I'm doing much better now I now only you know act immorally once a week it's not like every day anymore it's a large improvement large improvement and then the other one who compared himself with a man who lived like this look I'm not as bad as that he's got plenty of these woman in which he he loves immorally I only have one I'm not as bad as that okay so first we see Sun in the periphery yes I can see it I'm I'm wrong but it doesn't touch even affect me that much okay I see this wrong I've lied okay well the Bible says if you lied you rely your lies come look I'm sorry I've confessed it right and so people go on but then let's see what happens verse 13 he says that the law was given for a reason have a look at Part B of that verse that the extreme malignity and immeasurable sinfulness of sin might plainly appear so here we have God's perfect standard and in the light of it I discover something malignant II you know when people talk about a malignant growth it means it's going to kill them and he says what they need to discover is something that's gonna kill them and let's go further now so he discovers something and I want you to see this when can a man have a contrite heart when he sees to just see the fruit of sin but finally sees and acknowledge the root of it first he saw the fruit or covetousness greed hate bla bla okay fine I see it but as he carries on in God's dealing with him he finally understands it's not the fruit it's the root he understands this I know nothing good dwells within me I can will what is right but I cannot perform it and because he's struggling to do what is right but can't do it he discovers this he says so I find a law that when I want to do what is right in good evil is ever-present with me and I'm subject to its insistent amount and then he clarifies it I discern in my bodily members a different law and making me a prisoner to the lofts and that dwells in my bodily organs now watch contract heart we first had the hardness then comes the light first men only acknowledge and recognize the things in the periphery I'm not that bad okay I do have a few rotten fruits but the rest look at it I'm shining buddy remember in Genesis there were two trees the Tree of Life and the tree of evil the tree of knowledge of evil no no the tree of knowledge of good and evil so most men would like to look at the evil things and and prune that oath but it's also the good things that you bring in out of a rotten heart that makes it rotten when I bring forth a good thing out of a selfish heart that deed is an actual facts office although it might look good so main prune off the bad things and finally they realize that you more I prune it the more it comes back oh I figure it must be the tree that's the problem and when man can acknowledge sin at the root he's ready to be delivered because then he will see himself in the way that God sees him he will understand in the light of the truth that nothing good dwells within him and he will be in that place you see where Paul is in the 724 unhappy pitiable Richard men that I am who will release and deliver me from the shackles of this body of the ECC's in shackles now I'm in shackles this and this alone is the thing that the Lord is looking for in every man can you see you're in shackles can you see you bound up takes a long time to discover first we are willing to acknowledge the fruit later we'll discover the root and when I discover the root of sin in me the Lord can deliver me before that we're quite arrogant before that we prune the hedge listen you can plant full trees and you can prune them you can prune the head but it remains a phony age doesn't change and so we try and prune ourselves and think we can deceive God I want to make it clear as I'm going through this as quick as I can for your sake I want you to understand that there are two types of sorrow and please look at it he says I'm glad that you were pained but not that you were pain but you are pained into repentance so in other words when it talks about a contrite heart a man is pained over his own condition God allows that pain it's not physical pain is not you getting whooped it's the pain of becoming aware of the fact that you have done all of these things with a utterly corrupt heart and you've done it in the light of God's grace all the time he kept you he was slow to anger he was slow to deal with you it was his kindness that was trying to lead you to repentance and you've abused it right and that pain the Lord works by the Holy Spirit he says for godly grief that is that sorrow that brokenness that contract nurse which of man is finally seeing God is permitted to direct producer repentance that leads and contribute to salvation and the from evil it never brings regret in other words you get many people are not brought to this brokenness over their own condition there is no contrite heart and that's why they say oh I'm sorry but they do it again just ask your wife man you say you're sorry and you do it again eventually she doesn't trust you anymore but you expect the Lord to trust you any knows your heart fully and truly we frustrate these purposes because we're not broken in any way so it directs a pain which brings that contrite heart and that is when he meets us when we were fully honest about our own condition he will change us not before and then let's see what is the product of that observe what this same godly sorrow has done for you and has produced in you let's see when the Lord works it creates eagerness and cave to annex plain and clear yourself you want to make right immediately you don't want to go back next point what does it do indignation and vexation at sin you can't believe it ruled your life you don't want anything to do with any more alarm and fear of judgment you Oliver said in a way but I'm separated from God because he worked it in my heart what yearning to rid of sin in all its forms and what zeal you see there's something that works and I'm changed and then the other thing when that heart is contract you know what King David wrote in Psalm 51 verse 3 he said for I am conscious of my transgression I acknowledge them I don't hide it anymore I'm conscious I acknowledge my sin is ever before me he can't get it out of his mind and then he acknowledged the most important thing see what I told you before against you and you only have I sinned he understands that he's done all of this in the face of God not to mean and in the face of God and then he says the worst thing a man can ever say you are justified in your sentence and faultless in your judgment listen what is the sign of a true contrite heart a stone that is crushed to powder you want to know it's when you and I can agree with God that is just to condemn us you are just in your and faultless in your sentence what is the sentence we know Romans 6:23 you just you just to condemn me God I can see because up to that point these resistance come on the Lord's love really you know the Lord's love we know all about the love of God yes but what about the holiness of God it's indivisible we need to see the holiness of God to meet the love of God and we have to come to this place a contrite heart where he breaks it when I see it was against him I see myself and I agree with him that he's just to condemn me and then who's gonna save you listen do you understand that Christ died for sinners anybody who doesn't understand it you understand that okay if Christ died for sinners it's obvious that the consequence of sin is death right and the only way to being a beneficiary of that resurrection life is when you can come to the place where you say well I am that sinner for whom he died because I'm the one who deserved that death I'm the one to justify God in his condemnation do you know what a low place that is do you know how hopeless it is when you say like Paul I'm in the shackles of the power of sin do you know how it feels to come to the place where you say God there's nothing good within me I thought I could fool my family thought I could fool everyone it's nothing good within me I have to acknowledge it to you in my inner room here I am bound up there's nothing I can do about my state do you know what grace is is when he meets you in your inability the other thing you gotta understand Mercy Mercy what is mercy there's a guiltless man need mercy mercy is only for the guilty only for the guilty do you understand you can't claim the mercy of God unless you acknowledge the guilt and so a contrite heart has this attribute that it sees itself in the light of who God says he is it doesn't see just the fruit it sees the root it acknowledges that state before the Lord and then agrees of the Lord but Lord you are even just to condemn me but Lord I'm bound up who will deliver me it's an incredibly helpless state and every single person I've ever met on this planet doesn't want to be in a helpless state I want to be strong I want to look out for myself I want something that makes me strong well it's not going to happen the gospel of Jesus Christ because you have to be weak to be saved and you have to acknowledge that true state in a contrite heart when the Holy Spirit works upon your life by the virtue of this truth you break your heart breaks your heart who you are now tell you what your life will never be the same many in this church can testify of that when the Lord brought them to nothing he's not here to make you comfortable in life but to get you into the kingdom and for that he will not spare you he will not spare you until he could rid you of that heart of stone he promised he'll take away the heart of stone and give us all the flesh but that's our problem the heart is not contrite pulverized over its own state so we sit in a state of being deceived and the Bible tells us in proverbs 30:12 there is a class of people who are pure in their own eyes and yet not washed from day forth not washed from their fall then because you are not washed from yours fault you keep silent look what he says 32 verse 3 of Psalms when I kept silent my bones wasted away you suffer because of sin for dyin night your hand of displeasure was heavy upon me my moisture was turned into drought of summer it's not going well with you you can't you can't lie right I acknowledge my sin to you and my iniquity I did not hide and I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord I come out into the light when you hide in darkness when you remain hurt the Bible says you hew covers transgression will not prosper so you can think yourself to be right but your covering stuff and you'll suffer I'm almost finished I want to show you this in mark 10:46 we see the following then they came to Jericho and as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd Bartimaeus a blind beggar a son of Timaeus was sitting by the roadside and when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth he began to shout he didn't whisper shout saying Jesus son of David have pity and mercy on me and many severely censured and improved him telling him to keep stole but he kept on shouting out all the more son of David have pity and mercy on me he was blind and a beggar and Jesus stopped and said call him and they called the man telling him take courage get up he's calling you and throwing off his outer garment he leaped up and came to Jesus and Jesus said to him what's this he's blind ok as if he didn't know what do you want me to do for you and the blind man said to the master let me receive my sight what an amazing amazing occurrence in the life of Jesus and this is it the man is blind and he's a beggar and all of these miracles of Christ have a double meaning the man is blind he's a beggar just like you the only hope is Christ and when you hear that you cry out and you keep on crying out they couldn't silence him he had the determination that Christ was his only hope and when Christ finally confronted him he was asked the question what do you want from me like many of you if Christ would sit next to you today what do you want what do you want from him well the first the first thing you want is that I might see but I might see he said you'll come to open the eyes of those who are in prison so all men are in prison he'll open the eyes but when he opens the eyes you will find something and I just need to show it to you quickly when he opens the eyes this is what happened God has said let light shine of darkness eyes shone in our hearts so as the light of the illumination of knowledge of the majesty and the glory of God what is he doing he says God shines in your heart but he quite said to creation and I need you to listen he equates it to the creation event God who said let there be light weight we find that Genesis 1 let's look at it quickly in the beginning God created the heavens the earth the earth was without form and empty waste and darkness was upon the face of the deep and what do we see God said let there be light let me explain in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth the earth became without form and void and the Bible says in actual fact the Hebrew says an evil darkness was over the deeper bus Tariq translated and then what happens God said let there be light how does it work let me explain to you what he was saying in say Corinthians 4 in the beginning God created you and you became without form a void and an empty waste as far as God is concerned oh you can be successful in the world around k but spiritually or an empty waste and an evil darkness is over your life and the only hope you have is God must say let there be light because when that light comes something will happen when the light came the Lord spent the rest of the creation days up to day six to bring order out of chaos and this is the salvation of man first every man must understand that is in darkness he must like the blind beggar plead with him Jesus Christ have mercy on me and not stop until he is finally confronted by the Lord what is it you want from me not that I might see and when you see this will happen God will let there be light in your life and then starts the process of bringing order out of chaos in your life it's so amazing we think we've got everything under control what we need to understand we don't the Lord is looking for a contrite heart and that contrite heart is a man who understands his own nature then I need you to see this lastly in Joel 212 therefore also now says the Lord turn and keep on coming to me with all your heart with fasting with weeping and with mourning you see what he wants when men are away from him you turn its repentance you turn away change your heart change your mind you turn and you come and look at it keep on coming to me with all your heart you see the Lord knows when your hearts divided look I'm gonna try this Christianity thing won't work you come with all your heart with fastings that's restricting yourself from your fleshly carnal pleasures with weepings that is I have sorrow over who you find yourself to be in truth if you can't find yourself let your wife tell you who you are or let your husband tell you and worth mourning and then comes this amazing verse rend your hearts not your garments let it not be external what is he looking for a contrite heart and I showed you that before and a broken spirit it's something that is violently rent rent your hearts inside man get away from trying to do it on the outside and fooling everyone and return to the Lord your God for his gracious and merciful slow to anger abounding loving kindness here evokes he said and he revives his sentence of evil watch the in brackets at the bottom in the in the comment when his conditions are met his Christianity real you better believe it but you see the problem is not that God is dead the problem is that we are date to God and alive only to ourselves and so the Lord needs to work within us if we would only come you get yourself exposed to the word of truth and the Spirit of Truth will show you who you really are before you can come to God you need to come to yourself and when you come to yourself that's the state that you'll find yourself in with a contrite heart by the grace of the Lord through the word and the spirit you see that there is nothing good within you and when you can see that you that the only condition on which you will meet God in spirit and truth otherwise he will be far from you a mere theology a mere confession and it will not have the changing power of the gospel every single man that came in humility to him he met with the resurrection life but he never ever tried to convince me to follow him he never tried to coerce them the rich young man he told what to do and it was too great a price for him and he turned around and walked away and the Bible doesn't say Jesus fell on his knees and begged him to come back he says he just loved him dearly but he didn't force him he will never force any man he wants to rid you of that hardened heart you see he says I'll take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh he has to work it by his word and spirit but you must be willing you must be willing to let him rip apart the pride the self-righteousness the wall that you've built the false identity the social image the approval of men all of these phony things because God sees the heart you can't fool him and I want to make it clear the day that you confess something to the Lord and you come out with it all is not the day that he discovers it it's been in his face all along and it saved him all the while but it's the day that he can rid you of it when you are Ruth fully honest and truthful to him because He desires truth in the inmost being and in reality when that is true for you and for me we'll find ourselves all on the same appropriate place for any man the only appropriate place is in humility at the foot of the cross because there's no one better than another we all came through Adam and we all need to go through the second Adam the last Adam we all need to go through him and there's only one way that's why Jesus said Strait is the gate narrow the way few that find it because the one thing that keeps us from aligning that hard to become contract is that sickle pride that rules our hearts that rule Satan in the kingdom of heaven and I pray to God you yeah and I pray to God you understand it's the way into the kingdom you know last thing I tell you in ancient Israel they used to build fences stone walls around the cities they were quite thick they had massive entrances with iron gates but they also had a little arch just high enough for the Sheep to come in at night for the sheep to come in okay so after certain hour they would lock that and the Sheep would come in through the Sheep gate and the Shepherd would also be on his knees coming in through the sheep gate on his knees okay the only way into the kingdom is not by the broad gate but by the Sheep gate and there's only one way you come in by the Sheep gate into the house of the Lord and it's on your knees you can't walk upright in day and it's what I need to keep in imprinted in your hearts and minds if you're willing he will not resist you but he will resist the proud you see if God's for you why are you against yourself that's the point so I pray to God you hear and listen that it's been a blessing and an edified you and that it will bring forth fruit bread thank you you

Channel: Last Trumpet Teaching Ministry

Views: 1,542

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Louis Reyneke, salvation, repentance, Jesus Christ, broken spirit, contrite heart, brokenness, sin

Id: HeQjlT22PZw

Length: 64min 31sec (3871 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 20 2019