Isaiah 57:15,18, "For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones...I will also lead him and restore comfort to him"

Humbled and broken people are empty: This means they are ready to be filled by something other than themselves

         I have a burden on my heart to write on this heavenly and beauty subject of being humble and broken. I believe in my day in time the lack and anemic possession of this spiritual virtue is the root for why many so called Christians spring up and flower into withered branches and shriveled fruit.  Most do not realize that neither they or the rain and soil of this world do not posses the nurturance to cause true spiritual fruit to bloom in our lives: the kind of fruit, which God is pleased with.  To acknowledge such a thing in all its meaning is a public display of your weakness, sinfulness and incompetence. Who in my generation confesses to such a horror? Few do! And even among the professing religious, few admit this to the degree the scriptures and authentic repentance acquires.

        There are two reasons why a person becomes brokenhearted. One is from being humbled (all pride, self-reliance and confidence broken) and the other type of brokenhearted comes from the excessive weight of hardship and abuse of life on both the physical and spiritual body. Yet there is another stream of being brokenhearted when a person understands with their mind and heart that sin, or better said, their sinning is crushing them and leaving them without hope. This brokenness is in reality being humbled(as described in the first form of brokenness). The result is that in these times you grasp you are not strong enough to stand against sin: it humbles pride it debases all self-confidence. This is where I now wish to focus on. I believe it is on this focal point that the scriptures have much instructions and exhortings for us.

To those who are heavy laden with sin:

          In Matthew 11:25-30 Jesus Christ has this to say concerning people loaded with the guilt and pounding rain of sin, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

          "The character of the persons invited: all that labor and are heavy laden. ...it is to be understood of the burden of sin, both the guilt and the power of it. All those, and those only, are invited to rest in Christ that are sensible of sin as a burden and groan under it, that are not only convicted of the evil of sin-their own sin-but are contrite in soul for it; that are really sick of sin, weary of the service of the world and the flesh, that see their state sad and dangerous by reason of sin, and are in pain and fear about it: as Ephraim (Jer. 31:18-20), the prodigal (Luke 15:17), the publican (Luke 18:13), Peter's hearers (Acts 2:37), Paul (Acts 9), the jailor (Acts 16:29-30). This is a necessary preparative for pardon and peace."(Matthew Henry).

        "He now kindly invites to Himself those whom He acknowledges to be fit for becoming His disciples. Though He is ready to reveal the Father to all, yet the great part are careless about coming to Him, because they are not affected by a conviction of their necessities. Hypocrites give themselves no concern about Christ because they are intoxicated with their own righteousness, and neither hunger nor thirst after His grace. Those who are devoted to the world set no value on a heavenly life. It would be vain therefore for Christ to invite either of these classes, and therefore He turns to the wretched and afflicted. He speaks of them as "laboring" or being under a "burden," and does not mean generally those who are oppressed with griefs and vexations, but those who are overwhelmed by their sins, who are filled with alarm at the wrath of God and are ready to sink under so weighty a burden (John Calvin).

        Brokenness of our guilt (as it pertains to being condemned), shame, hopelessness, dying thirst of true satisfaction and despair will be gone, will be healed and forgotten: "no more sorrow...for the former things have passed away(Rev. 21:4)." Yet there will remain another type of brokenness, which will never leave but only grow. This type of broken humbleness will arise from healed hearts, formally dead, overridden and diseased by sin and the devil, now made new, healed and overflowing with the joy of the Holy Spirit. The more a heart sees with vivid precision; how close the hammer of God's judgment was on them for the sins they committed, how deeply they had fallen into the flames of hell's grasp, how magnificent it was for the creator of the universe to come in human form (Jesus Christ), how fully and without sparing no expense Christ saved them from all their misery and delivered them into the intimate hand of God's love and all possible goodness: they become humbled and broken.

         It is only right and fitting, for any creature who was so low in state, who then, was suddenly brought without any help or power of their own, into a immeasurable high state of wonder, to be humbled and broken by such kindness, wisdom and loving power which did not originate from them. Yes, it would be insulting to the giver, if humbled broken love and thankfulness was not experienced, lived in and ascribed.

          People who are humbled by their sin and broken at the vanity for having placed any hope in their selves, in broken citrines, are people who will find themselves being made whole as God becomes there portions. God does not fill the last 10% of our life; He fills "all in all (Ephesians 1:23)." Christ "completes (Colossians 2:10)" us 100% because we are at 0% at having the ability to bring true happiness and real satisfaction to ourselves. This is a humbling thought! God commands us to love Him with "all" our hearts and life because we were all the way lacking when He came and filled us "all in all." The more we face up to this the more we are humbled and broken in a good manner. For if we are hungry and thirsty to find true life, joy and freedom from being enslaved by sin and the devil, Christ makes it clear He is our food and water; He will fill us. This is why Christ went to the sick because they had been broken by sin and the devil, they were looking for true and lasting help outside of themselves. Sickness is often times a place that causes people to have more honest time to think about who they really are: helpless sinners. Godly humbleness and brokenness leads people to look outside of themselves, to the only true star shining healing light, Christ the magnificent!

The Gospel: broken people are made whole by being filled with Christ

Ephesians 5:18, "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 9 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things."

 Revelation 21:6, "And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts."

         By now we have discussed there is a bad brokenness, which comes from the guilt and crushing force of sin, which destroys the soul. Yet there is a good brokenness which arises from a grateful heart seeing how empty they are in contrast how Great Christ is in that He would come down from heaven and exert such divine power, wisdom, mercy and love to save such repulsive creatures.

          Therefore is it no wonder then to see our above text exhorting us to "be filled with the Spirit." What does the scriptures say about this infilling of the Spirit, "John 7:38, "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." Being filled with the Spirit is compared to being filled with rivers of living refreshing waters! But how does one become filled with this wonderful refreshing water? Christ Himself tells us in Matthew 11 and in Revelation 21 in these ways: all who are heavy laden and thirsty for Him. Now the question is how much do we need to thirst for Christ?

           Matthew 6:24, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other." There is a self-evident truth known by all: an object cannot be filled with two things at the same time. In this case it is half-filled with two things, but not filled with one thing. If we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit we cannot be filled with other things, for in that case we are not truly filled with the Holy Spirit. This means we are not being filled and overflowed with the rivers of living water. This is why Christ says you cannot love or serve two masters completely at the same time. Christ demands all our love and passions.

          Now the question is simple. How do we get to the point of only being "filled" with Holy Spirit, of only loving and serving one master, our Lord Jesus Christ?

          Humbled and broken people are empty: this means they are ready to be filled by something other than themselves. This is directly implied by the words of Jesus Christ when He invites the thirsty to drink Him in. To be thirsty means to be lacking in something and so you must go outside yourself to find it. This same flow of thought is expressed differently, by Jesus Christ, elsewhere as the following: John 6:33 "For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." What is the conclusion then? We are empty; Christ is our food. The gospel of Christ is our food. John 6:35, "And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst." This is why in Romans 16:25 it states that His Gospel strengthen us, just as food does to the body. Christ is our food our strength.

          We are only healed to the degree in which we are broken. Revelation 21:6, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts." In other words we are only filled with Jesus as much as we are thirsty. To recognize your thirst is to be humbled and broken. The more you live up to this fact and know its true depth the more you will plunge & immerse your soul and entire life into the refreshing water of Jesus Christ. What then makes us so thirsty?

          Our text in Matthew 11, which we examined earlier, makes clear what brings a man to his knees, grasping out in vain from a killing thirst, which is the burden of Sin! Therefore let us be straightforward in our commitment to acknowledge that we can only bring more killing thirst and condemnation on ourselves if we strive in any area of our lives to find grace or strength apart from, our Lord Jesus Christ. If men are alive to themselves and this world, they are on the other hand, equally dead toward Jesus Christ and the benefits of His love and mercy. If you live for yourself you die toward God.

          Repentance is to turn around from our past wickedness and triviality toward Christ running to in drink in His refreshing rivers of mercy and love. What then is the first level that brings this deep level of repentance? Broken heartedness over our own sins, which we committed and then a full and confident trust and joy in the mercy of Jesus Christ, freely given to us by His blood shed and obedience on earth.   
            Therefore to the degree that we are not broken by our sin and treachery toward our Great God is the degree, in which we will not turn toward Jesus Christ, falling and diving completely into His River of free mercy that cannot be added to or merited. For this is the glory of Christ's blood, being free which cannot be merited. Will you now honor it as such, as the wisdom of God, or dishonor it by adding yourself and freewill to it?  There are many fools bearing the name of Christian who think they might merit God's mercy or drink the true richness of Christ's waters of life without coming to Him as mere beggars with only broken hearts and sin to offer as acceptance for His free love and grace. "We are kept by the Spirit working in us a spirit of entire dependency, renouncing our own wisdom and strength. The only place from which we cannot fall is one down in the dust. It is there the Lord brings His own people, weaning them from all confidence in the flesh, and giving them to experience that it is when they are weak they are strong. Such, and such only, are saved and safe forever." - A. W. Pink. This is the brokenness, which I pray we never leave, both now and forever.

          For is this not what the gospel first teaches about man? If the gospel is the good news of God's grace through the blood shedding of Christ then what does this teach about us? The gospel spells out clearly we are bloated and swollen with sin and wickedness. This is why only free, totally free, mercy can bring hope to such hopeless creatures. Therefore be content to be broken, for this is the lot God as given to us out of His authority and love.  It is love for this reason. As a creature we can only experience the depth of God's happiness and love to the degree we are broken.  Our brokenness causes us to turn our eyes from all other sites and removing our mouths from all other cisterns so that we completely dive into the free love of Christ, striving to fill only fill our hearts with Christ the Magnificent! God has infinite happiness and joy in Himself. We can only benefit from God pouring this in us, as we are desperate to open our mouths and hearts to receive it. Humbleness toward our God, out of us loathing our sin and the wickedness we committed and in return treasuring our Lord Jesus Christ's free mercy, is this quality that enables us to best receive our heavenly Father's love. We ought to feel remorse for what we have done in the past for our own actions, while on the other hand remember, by faith, the grace and goodness our Heaven Father has infallibly given us in the Lord Jesus Christ.

          Therefore the gospel of Christ is our food and drink. This has been brilliantly shown out to us, as the Sun makes known its presence by it's light, so it has also been in the testimony of our heavenly Father in sending His Son.  Let us therefore partake of the full benefits of this light by placing ourselves face down before our God in utter humbleness and brokenness over our sins. Let us be quick to recognize all our sin and swiftly to confess them before our merciful God, who so profoundly testified of His love and acceptance of us, as His Children, by the suffering of His Son Jesus Christ. Since the wages of sin is death, may we rather partake with Christ, being crucified with Him knowing we have an eternal home with our Heavenly Father, embraced by the arms of His love. Seeing that we have been reconciled to God in His eternal decrees of love and grace, by the physical sending of Christ to earth dying silently as Lamb before its slaughtering, may we be ruled by the Holy Spirit springing up in us a new man fashioned in the image of God. May the Spirit direct our hearts, minds and actions into purity and adoration for Christ and His Honor forever! 

Psalm 25:9, "The humble He guides in justice, And the humble He teaches His way."

Psalm 34:2, "My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear of it and be glad."

Isaiah 29:19, "The humble also shall increase their joy in the LORD, And the poor among men shall rejoice In the Holy One of Israel."

Zephaniah 3:12, "I will leave in your midst A meek and humble people, And they shall trust in the name of the LORD."

Psalm 34:18, "The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit."

Luke 4:18, "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed."

Worship:

            2 Corinthians 4:7, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us."  When the heart of man, by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit, comes to terms that even faith is a "gift" that is "not of ourselves." Then pride is shattered and the cry of the heart is "Not to us, Not to us, but to Your Name be the Glory", Psalm 115:1.  For in heaven when God Judges every thing and every intention of the heart of every man, "then each one praise will come from God", 1 Corinthians 4:5.  This is because all will see, "the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us", 2 Corinthians 4:7.

          Psalm 51:17, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart -- These, O God, You will not despise." To sacrifice is an act of worship to God. Therefore to be broken is to worship God. Our humble brokenness will forever be an act of worship before God, in Heaven, as we realize more and more how empty we are and how much our good Father has filled us with all goodness and joy in the Son, by the Spirit. Ten thousand years from now we will look back and understand with greater clarity how little and empty we are and see in a greater degree the infinite height of His love and that every good thing we have comes from our God, filling and overflowing our lack. This will increase in an ever-increasing manner our broken humbleness leading to our ever-increasing joy and happiness as our God over-floods our souls with Himself and His Glory, in an indescribable abundance. Isaiah 57:15,18, "For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones...I will also lead him and restore comfort to him"

          My dear friends will you be filled with Christ today, then I implore today to empty ourselves of all pride by facing up to the damning height of your sin and your secret adultery with this world. Place all your hope for mercy and grace in the Name of Jesus Christ. Come to God your Father as nothing more than a beggar with no more to offer to Him than that your sin qualifies you to be a free recipient of the cleansing mercy of Jesus and of His eternal joy purchased by His blood, which had been decreed in past times to be the Wisdom, Power, Grace and Love of God the Lord of every man!

Yours in Christ: Oshea Davis