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Isaiah 61:1-3 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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Bibles to Isaiah chapter 61.
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I'm not doing the exact same message necessarily as I would have done that night,
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! but I am using the same text and just sort of tweaking it a little bit just to focus on a topic that has meant a lot to myself over the years.
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Because most of you who know me well know that Isaiah is probably my favorite, most dear Old Testament book, I would say, close to the Psalms.
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And there's just so much in there that yells Jesus and yells the glory of God.
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And it's very important to me because around 2012, I would say, doesn't really matter, around 2012, I was going through a very difficult time in my life.
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As one who has suffered with a chronic disease, I was having a lot of health issues.
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And so the term healing has always meant a lot to me.
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And it's used a lot in the scripture.
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And I was going through a number of different trials at that time.
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I would definitely say I had some mild depression kind of going on.
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Feeling like a failure in many different areas of my life.
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Feeling very fruitless in ministry terms.
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Just like I've been doing the same thing.
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Where is this going?
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A lot of burnout.
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And very lonely.
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Very lonely from being single.
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I had a number of really, really close brothers of mine that multiple guys had just moved off that year.
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And are in many different places in the world right now.
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But just feeling that loss as well.
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And I think Nathan and Chris Stewart at the time saw just how bad I was doing and just told me to take a break.
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So I did.
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And of course, y'all know me.
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I went to my favorite wee island in the North Atlantic for about a month or so.
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And God just met with me there in a very powerful way.
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And some of the stuff that the Lord did there will be shared throughout this.
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But one of the passages that God used during that time was the first few verses here in Isaiah 61.
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And to focus on how Christ came to heal the brokenhearted.
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And I listened to an old vintage classic sermon by Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones.
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And I've already promised a few people I would try to say it like in his Welsh accent.
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But Christ came to heal the brokenhearted.
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That's the best way I can say it.
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And so we're going to focus on that today.
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But let's just read the first few verses of Isaiah 61.
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This is the third, I guess, song of what they call the servants.
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Poems that are here in Isaiah.
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Talking about the suffering servant that is to come.
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Speaking of Christ.
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But first one.
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The spirit of the Lord God is upon me.
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Because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
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He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted.
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To proclaim liberty to the captives.
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And the opening of the prison to those who are bound.
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To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
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And the day of vengeance of our God.
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To comfort all who mourn.
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And to grant to those who mourn in Zion.
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To give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes.
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The oil of gladness instead of mourning.
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The garment of praise instead of a faint spirit.
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That they may be called oaks of righteousness.
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The planting of the Lord.
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That he may be glorified.
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Just pray with me for a moment.
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Father.
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Father.
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I know that myself and many people even just present today.
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What every one of us have experienced.
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What it means to have a broken heart.
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All of us Lord.
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Sin has touched us.
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Wrecked us.
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Destroyed us.
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And Lord I pray that you would use your word.
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In your spirit.
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To surgically just work in our hearts this morning.
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If we're distracted.
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I pray you'd help us focus.
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If we're hungry.
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I pray that we would.
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Be able to put all our mind.
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And our heart on you.
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Knowing that you're better than anything this world has to offer.
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That you would teach us.
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And that we would walk out of here.
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Not the same.
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We walk out changed Father.
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And only you can do this.
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So I ask that you would.
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By your grace Lord.
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In Christ's name.
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Amen.
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So.
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A few points for you today.
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Number one.
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God created our hearts.
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To belong to him.
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God created our hearts to belong to him.
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So.
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When God created the heavens and the earth.
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And all of creation echoes the glory and excellence of God.
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We are created in his image.
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A very special part of creation.
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Created to reflect his character.
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His beauty.
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His splendor.
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In a way that no other part of creation.
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Could.
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And.
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He also created our hearts.
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To belong to him.
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And the word heart.
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Occurs.
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Over a thousand times.
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In scripture.
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Making it the most common term.
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Probably related to.
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Who we are.
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As beings created.
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In the image of God.
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And Christ often highlighted.
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The importance of the heart.
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In the gospels.
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The heart is referred to.
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Forty times.
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Or so.
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And so.
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Just to.
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You could go all kinds of different directions with this.
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But just to.
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To nail it down a little bit.
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What is the heart?
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Heart.
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The heart is the center of our emotions.
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Affections.
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Desires.
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And intellectual.
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Moral activities.
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So.
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The Bible talks about the thoughts of our heart.
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And the desires of our heart.
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Heart.
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And it makes up a vital part of our spiritual makeup.
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A lot of men don't like to talk about their hearts.
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I have a friend who was a.
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U.S.
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Army major.
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And he had.
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He and some other officers had to get together.
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In this little.
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Psychiatric counseling session.
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You can imagine all his old war vests.
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Sitting in there.
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In a circle.
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With a counselor.
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Being like.
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How do you feel?
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You know.
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Talk about your heart.
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And they're just going.
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No.
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That's not going to happen.
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And one of them was given a box of tissues.
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And he just like.
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Tossed it over his shoulder.
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Like.
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I'm not going to do this.
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This is stupid.
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But men need to talk about.
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The heart.
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Because you have one.
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And you either learn to.
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Control it.
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And channel it.
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For God's glory.
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Or.
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It's going to control you.
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And dominate you.
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And so.
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The heart is where our desires.
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Our affections are.
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It's where we experience joy.
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And delight.
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In turn.
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A term that you see a lot in scripture.
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To be good of heart.
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Is also there.
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The heart is where we make decisions.
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Every day.
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We make choices and decisions.
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Based on the desires of our heart.
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We don't just randomly do things.
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We act in accordance to what is in our heart.
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As Nathan said to King David.
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Whatever is in your heart.
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Go and do that.
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Go and do that thing.
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And so we were created.
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To love the Lord with our heart.
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As we know it says in the Shema.
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It begins that way.
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To love the Lord your God by your heart.
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By your soul.
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And your mind.
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And your strength.
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And so.
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We were made to find our joy.
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Our delight.
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And to have everything we do in life.
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Channeled toward.
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Driven by.
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The sole motive.
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Of knowing Christ.
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Knowing God.
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And honoring Him.
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We're purposed for this.
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But.
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Sounds great.
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But it leads us to the second point.
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Which is.
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Sin has broken.
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Our hearts.
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Sin has broken our hearts.
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So though we were made to love the Lord with all our heart.
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And to desire fellowship with Him.
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Tragically.
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Sin has caused our hearts to be broken.
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In fact.
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You would think that the term a broken heart would come from some sort of.
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Greek myth literature.
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Romantic writing.
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But it doesn't.
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It comes from.
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From the scripture.
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In ancient Hebrew.
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The term a broken heart.
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Is a.
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Term that comes from the scripture.
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And.
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The word is very strong.
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It's.
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Shabar.
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It means to have one's heart broken.
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Maimed.
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Or crippled.
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Wrecked.
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Crushed.
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And shattered.
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Tough words.
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Ever felt like that before?
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Ever had your heart so.
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Maimed and crippled.
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That your.
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Emotions were just bleeding out.
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All over the place.
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Bleeding all over your soul.
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And had your heart just kind of thrown down to the ground.
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And.
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Smashed.
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By sin.
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Like a.
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Fragile piece of china.
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Your emotions just so crushed and dashed by the heavy.
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Foot of sin.
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I have.
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In many different ways.
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Sin hurts.
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Sin is terrible.
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Sin is painful.
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It's not a.
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A nice master.
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So with our hearts detached from God.
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We experience sorrow and sadness.
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Instead of joy.
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We experience depression and despair.
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Instead of.
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Happiness.
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Anger and madness.
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And fear and anxiety.
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Instead of a quiet trust in our creator.
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This is what sin does to our hearts.
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It's totally jacked our hearts up.
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Messed us up.
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The wisdom writer said.
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In Ecclesiastes 9.
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The hearts of the children of man are full of evil.
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Madness is in their hearts.
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While they live.
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And after they.
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And after they go to the dead.
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sin brings no true gladness.
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We all know this is true.
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Sin destroys our hearts.
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It wrecks our hearts.
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Even before our lives are over.
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Our hearts are long gone.
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Sin brings only failure and ruin.
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Ruin.
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You ever just.
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You know.
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As believers.
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You have a particular sin.
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That just always seems to keep resurfacing.
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And you've.
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You've sought to never give in to it again.
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And then.
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You do.
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And you hate yourself.
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For it.
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You turn back around.
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And beat.
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Yourself up.
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For your failure.
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Committed.
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Some of us.
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You know.
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We've committed.
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I'll put myself in this category.
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We've committed such.
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Vile acts of sin.
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In our life.
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That we would be.
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Completely.
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Shamed.
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If.
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People knew about it.
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David describes our.
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Our broken heart.
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A condition.
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Well.
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In many of the Psalms.
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He says.
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For I am afflicted.
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And needy.
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And my heart.
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Is wounded.
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Within me.
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In Psalm 38.
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He says.
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I am feeble.
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And crushed.
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I groan.
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Because of the tumult.
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Or uproar.
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In my heart.
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Oh Lord.
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All my longing.
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Is before you.
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My sighing.
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Is not hidden from you.
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My heart.
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Throbs.
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And aches.
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My strength.
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Fails me.
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In the light of my eyes.
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Even it.
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Is gone.
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From me.
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So.
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Broken hearted people.
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Feel shame.
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They feel despair.
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And because of that.
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Because we've failed.
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So much.
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We feel hopeless.
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There's no.
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Answer.
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And sin has done.
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A lot of things to us.
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But I just wanted to highlight.
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A few.
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In relationship to.
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Our hearts.
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And our affections.
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Because of that.
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We're alienated.
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From God.
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And his love.
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Sin has made us.
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Cosmic fugitives.
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Fleeing from.
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The presence of God.
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We don't want.
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Fellowship with him.
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We don't naturally.
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Desire it.
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At all.
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We hate to talk about.
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Sin.
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Particularly our sin.
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Because we know.
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That it can't stand.
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In the presence of a holy God.
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From the outset.
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Of the fall.
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Again.
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It starts to highlight.
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What happened to our hearts.
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In Genesis 6.
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5.
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The Lord saw.
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That the wickedness of man.
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Was great.
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On the earth.
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And that.
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Every intention.
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Of the thoughts.
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Of his heart.
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Was only evil.
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Continually.
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Paul wrote.
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Same thing.
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In Ephesians 5.
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8.
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He says that.
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Unbelievers.
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Walk in the futility.
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Of their minds.
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They are darkened.
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In their understanding.
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Alienated.
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From the life.
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Of God.
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Because of the ignorance.
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That is in them.
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Due to their hardness.
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Of heart.
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They have become callous.
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And have given themselves.
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Up to sensuality.
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Greedy.
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To practice.
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Every kind of impurity.
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So.
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We are shut out.
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From fellowship with God.
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Our hearts are separated.
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From God.
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All we like sheep.
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Have gone astray.
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Each.
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To our own way.
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And.
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We forfeited.
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This great pleasure.
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We have had.
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And we are.
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Incapable now.
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Because of sin.
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Of honoring God.
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And loving God.
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As we ought to.
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Separated from the one object.
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That our hearts were made for.
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So.
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Consequently.
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Our.
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We are alienated.
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From God.
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And his love.
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But we are also alienated.
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From each other.
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Other human beings.
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If you have no connection with God.
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You.
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You can't have.
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A real connection.
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With those.
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Other people.
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That are created in his image.
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We are at odds.
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With one another.
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With the rest of mankind.
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Nine.
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So sin has caused us.
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Not just to inflict injury.
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On ourselves.
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But on others.
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Around us.
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No matter who they are.
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Family.
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Friends.
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Strangers.
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We hurt each other.
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Very well.
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And it's the result of.
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Sin.
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Damaging us.
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Sin has caused our hearts.
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To love.
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Things that.
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Are just.
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Nasty.
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And vile.
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And we.
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We drag.
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Others down with us.
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Paul said.
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We pass our days.
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In malice.
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And envy.
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Hated by others.
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And hating.
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One another.
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Sin in our hearts.
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Caused us to hurt others.
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With our words.
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And our actions.
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As David said.
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And insults.
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And reproach.
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Have broken my heart.
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I am full of heaviness.
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And I am distressingly sick.
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We have all experienced this.
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Disconnected in our marriages.
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Where.
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You may have.
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A situation at times.
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Where.
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Your spouse may just feel like a roommate to you.
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You don't really have.
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A close connection with your spouse anymore.
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Sin leads us to fail each other constantly.
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And destroy each other's trust.
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It's hardened our hearts.
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And we're trapped.
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We don't even care about our own plight.
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What other creature in existence always does what's not the best for itself.
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We constantly do what's not good for us.
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So we're indifferent to our own plight.
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And we're definitely indifferent to the plight of those who are around us.
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So sin has brought enmity.
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Not just with God.
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But also with each other.
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So we've all done it.
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You've hurt somebody with careless words or actions.
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Some of us have been treated by others.
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With such contempt.
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And rejection.
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That it's broken our hearts.
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Cruelty.
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So angry and jealous with someone.
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That you almost just wish them harm because of it.
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It's made us be very indifferent.
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So it doesn't take a lot just to look around this world and see how all of us are broken.
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Sin has broken our hearts and alienated us from each other.
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But as we'll look in a minute from our text.
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Another result of this is we're captives to Satan and destructive patterns of sin.
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And life.
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We're not free agents just doing as we please.
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But captives to sin.
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And the word is very powerful.
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It means a type of bondage which a person cannot break.
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By willpower or resolve.
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You cannot free yourself.
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You're a captive to sin.
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Slaves to sin.
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Titus 3.3
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We are foolish, disobedient, led astray.
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Slaves to various passions and pleasures.
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And it says in the scripture, Paul said that unbelievers are slaves to Satan, held captive by him to do his will.
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Very chilling words.
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Under the snare of the devil.
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And we know that our hearts are broken because many of our initial knee-jerk reactions to situations come from life patterns that we've learned.
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We've learned a lot of it from our childhood.
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But growing up into young adulthood, acceptance or rejection, confidence in our insecurity in our lives comes in a large time by childhood into early adulthood.
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We overreact to difficult situations.
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And have reoccurring bouts of emotional pain.
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We just don't ever been that way like something just happened and you had this strong feeling just come over you that was awful.
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You don't know where it came from, but this is seemed to kind of fall out of the blue.
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Sin has messed us up.
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But have you ever felt that way?
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Captive to a certain pattern of sin?
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Living in a prison of lies that you believe you can't break free from?
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Can't stop trying to measure up to people that are around you?
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Some of it is captivity to things like alcohol, pornography, drugs, laziness, indifference.
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We all have lived in places of captivity where it feels like no truth can penetrate us.
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And again, having a chronic disease, I've learned a good bit about this kind of stuff.
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But just like with human illness, doctors know there's a huge difference between treating symptoms of an illness
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and trying to actually cure or heal the condition itself.
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Most of our medicine, most of it, is focused on just treating the symptoms.
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Take this pill, feel better.
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Just treating the outward signs of things.
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Much of my medication has been that way over the years.
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But likewise, God says our hearts are sick and broken.
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Jeremiah, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick.
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Who can understand it?
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So at the very best, this world is aware of a broken hearted condition,
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but psychiatrists, counselors, self-help books can only treat symptoms of this problem.
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They'll say things like take up a hobby.
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Think more positive.
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Find something that you're good at.
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Eat right.
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Exercise.
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None of those things are bad,
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but they can't heal and totally restore your broken heart.
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They can't do it.
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They can only treat the symptoms.
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Our heart has been just smashed by the wrecking ball of sin and evil.
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So either, okay, so either you're an emotional mess where you just gush out and bleed out your emotions all over the place all the time,
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or you're just totally dominated by how you feel all the time.
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No objective thing that drives you, and you become a burden to those around you, and you refuse to be comforted.
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And people might see you as weak or puny or a wuss, whatever.
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On the other hand, I would throw myself more in this category.
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You harden your heart.
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You say, this hurts too much, so I'm not going to care anymore.
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And you shut down and guard yourself.
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You dull your feelings and say, I don't care.
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Come what may.
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So you're seeing us indifferent, tough.
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But neither one of those are helpful, and neither one of those are God-honoring.
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Neither one.
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So you may think, well, I'm not an emotional wreck.
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I'm good.
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Well, your heart is broken just as much.
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We all need healing.
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So this brings us into the good news.
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We're not left here.
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The third point, number three, is Jesus came to heal our broken hearts.
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So Jesus came to heal our broken hearts.
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The sadness, depression, loneliness, anger, rage, bitterness that we feel can be overwhelming.
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But God is drawn near to us in the person of Christ.
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God with us.
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Emmanuel.
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And the scripture is fulfilled.
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We read, so please hold your place in Isaiah 61.
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But flip over to Luke chapter 4.
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Luke chapter 4.
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In verse 16, this is following Jesus' baptism by John and temptation in the wilderness by Satan.
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And in the very outset of his earthly ministry, we kind of read this.
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It says,
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He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up.
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And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day.
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And he stood up and read.
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And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him.
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He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
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The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
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He has sent me to, a lot of your translations may say this, it's a translation thing,
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But to heal the brokenhearted.
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To proclaim liberty to the captives and the recovering of sight to the blind.
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To set at liberty those who are oppressed.
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To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
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He rolled up the scroll.
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He gave it back to the attendant and sat down.
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And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
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And he began to say to them,
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Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.
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What a place to be.
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Can you imagine being in that room?
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Just shocked, amazed.
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That Jesus was claiming that he was the fulfillment of this messianic prophecy.
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That came at his time around 700 years before he came on the scene.
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Like one that God foretold about.
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Does that not warm your heart to think about that?
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But I wanted you to see that.
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That he refers to this very text we just read from Isaiah 61.
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But as we walk through it together and look at how Christ has dealt with each one of these issues we've been discussing.
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Alienation from God, each other, captive to sin.
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To get a fuller picture.
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I wanted you to see that.
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But flip back over to Isaiah 61.
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We'll stay there.
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So, we start off in verse 1 where it says,
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The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me.
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And the Spirit was upon Christ.
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If you remember, the Spirit came upon him in this very chapter at his baptism.
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He was the one baptized by John.
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It said,
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The Spirit and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.
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And a voice came from heaven.
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You are my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.
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So, the Spirit of God anointed and empowered him to do the will of his Father.
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To proclaim salvation and deliverance from the tyranny of sin.
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And the Father is speaking, giving his approval, his seal on his Son.
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So, we see that in the first verse of Isaiah 61.
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The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me.
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The Spirit of the Sovereign Yahweh is upon me.
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So, he is that Messiah.
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Look on verse 1.
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You see that he says,
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I've come to give good news to the poor.
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As we've learned, right?
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That being poor in spirit is a realization of how bankrupt and broken we are spiritually before God.
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We have nothing to bring of ourselves on behalf of God that God will be pleased of.
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We've preached on this in the past.
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But the poor in spirit are spiritually in depth.
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We don't have anything.
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Christ said,
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Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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So, he's come to proclaim good news to the poor.
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So, then we see this next part, the other part of verse 1.
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He's come to heal the brokenhearted.
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So, he doesn't just come to treat the symptoms, right?
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He doesn't just come to treat the outward signs of our inward condition.
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But he comes to heal.
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He doesn't treat us like a lot of doctors would.
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Like, take this pill, get out of my face, go home.
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I've had some like that, not many.
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Didn't work out well for them after that.
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But he doesn't just do that.
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Christ comes to not just treat, but heal.
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And that term is to bind up, powerfully restore, and revive our broken hearts.
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Jesus is a sympathetic, compassionate physician who is able to heal our disease, and thus, all the symptoms that come with it.
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You heal the disease, you have everything else that's taken care of.
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So, listen, like, this is important.
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But yes, Christ came to carry out the will of his Father and to honor him in walking obedience and all that he did.
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Yes, Christ came to bear our sins on the cross and save us from eternal damnation.
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But he also came to heal his people of the devastating effects of sin on our hearts of stone and give us a new heart of flesh that beats for God.
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And he does so by surgically removing our hearts.
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Every generation, removing the heart of stone and giving us a heart of flesh.
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The Holy Spirit does this work as he applies the work of Christ to our hearts and revives us.
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Christ cares.
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It says many times in the Scripture, in Psalm 147,
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He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wombs.
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And Christ is the instrument to do this.
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So, he's come to heal our broken hearts.
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Look on verse 1, he talks about setting the captives free.
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So, in the context, they might have been just hearing, like,
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Oh, he's come to set us free from the Babylonian captivity when Jesus said this.
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That's what he's talking about.
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But he explains that it has a fuller meaning, a deeper sense spiritually.
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Much greater than Moses delivering the Jews from Egypt.
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Much greater than Cyrus delivering the Jews from Babylon.
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But Jesus leading us out of spiritual captivity, spiritual slavery.
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He's come to set us free and liberate us from the destructive patterns of sin that we cannot stop by ourselves.
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To proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.
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It's this image of prison doors being ripped off and captives springing from the cells and running free.
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He's bought us to set us free.
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I love the, can't resist the old John Wesley hymn here.
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Long my imprisoned spirit lay.
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Fast bound in sin and nature's night.
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Thine eye diffused a quickening ray.
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I woke the dungeon flamed with light.
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My chains fell off and my heart was free.
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I rose, went forth, and followed thee.
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So, he's come to proclaim liberty, freedom, to those who are in captivity by sin.
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And so, then he goes on, Jesus, and he talks about the year of the Lord's favor.
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He's come to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
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But here, if you're looking at Isaiah 61 and Luke 4 side by side, he stops, right?
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He doesn't just keep reading.
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That made me kind of clue in to what is happening.
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But he stops reading the first part of verse 2 in Isaiah 61.
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Why?
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Because by his first coming, he was indicating that he was ushering in the year of the Lord's favor.
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And that means that there's this season of grace that we're living in even right now
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where God welcomes sinners to come to him and be saved through Jesus.
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It's a chance to come and be restored.
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A season of salvation where God grants mercy to those who come for forgiveness and restoration.
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He stops there, and that day will come to an end.
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Because if you read the rest, it talks about there is an appointed day of vengeance of our God.
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The day of judgment where Christ comes back at his second coming, and he will then fulfill the rest of that prophecy.
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Now is the favorable time of salvation.
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So he fulfills all these things, but not all at the same time.
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He's come to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
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We can go on, though, to comfort the mourning, to comfort all those who are mourning because of sin.
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Sin has not brought us joy as it promised.
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And so Jesus doesn't just take a negative view on our pain, on mourning.
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Don't you find it astounding that it says in Psalm 56 that God collects our tears in his bottle?
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Something that he's moved by the brokenness of his people, by compassion.
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And Isaiah declares that this deep sorrow over sin, rebellion against God, will one day be turned into rejoicing at the arrival of Christ.
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That's why he says, blessed are those who mourn, for you will be comforted.
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Your time of mourning is over.
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Your time in darkness is over.
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Come to me, and I will give you a new heart and a new start.
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So we could go on, just look at the rest of this.
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Verse 3 is worth looking at here.
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To grant those who mourn in Zion.
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To give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes.
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But Christ brings us a holy attire to wear.
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So many awesome images here.
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So on our journey, that is sanctification, will one day be brought to fruition and glorification.
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God will take the deep mourning of our hearts and bring it to a complete end.
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We can begin experiencing that now, but it will be brought to a complete end at the glorification.
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So we see a beautiful headdress instead of ashes.
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A lot of us know that throwing ashes on the head was a symbolical sign of hitting rock bottom, of deep sorrow, grief, and despair.
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But on the other hand, a headdress, a crown was symbolic of abundance and joy, of celebration.
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A headdress of celebration to make Mary our freedom and salvation in Christ.
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The oil of gladness instead of mourning.
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The garment of praise instead of a faint spirit.
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Holy garments of salvation to be worn in this celebration that we will one day partake in.
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And I love this last part of verse 3.
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That they may be called oaks of righteousness.
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Sin, we blow around all over the place.
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We have no roots.
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We have no foundation.
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We're just destroyed by any little thing that comes along.
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But Christ will give us His righteousness.
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As we all know, we will be oaks of righteousness.
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Strong, beautiful, sturdy, lasting people who can stand before God one day.
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Same language is repeated a little later in verse 10 in the same chapter in Isaiah 61,
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where it talks about Him giving us garments of salvation and robes of righteousness in verse 10.
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All that, all for the purpose of God being glorified.
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That is the goal and the purpose of this all.
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The healing of our broken hearts.
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The restoration, our liberation from captivity of sin.
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All that, the Lord will be glorified.
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God.
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So, in conclusion, you're in either one of these camps.
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There's only two.
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There's only two.
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Some of you may not know Christ.
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You haven't.
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If you were to look on in Luke 4 where Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah,
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you'll see that everyone there didn't believe Him.
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They rejected Him.
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They were angry.
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They were infuriated that He would claim to be the fulfillment of Isaiah 61.
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I know that if you're a very sick person and in the hospital,
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you're dying for the doctor to come in and say,
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you're doing better or you're healed.
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You're waiting for that good news.
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But you have to be aware that you're sick.
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The only people who are going to be healed by Christ are those who recognize their sinful, broken condition.
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You haven't come to bring salvation to the healthy but the sick, right?
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So, don't be like those who pushed Him out of the synagogue.
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But embrace Him and be saved and be restored.
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For the rest of us here who are in Christ,
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sometimes like the journey of following Jesus hasn't turned out like we thought it was going to be.
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We expected some tough stuff to come,
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but when you look at your life, it just feels like I have been through more than I ever thought.
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It's just turned out to be more sadness and trial rather than joy.
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Your heart's been broken by the destructive patterns of sin in your life
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that you just can't seem to move on from in your Christian life.
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Maybe even despair to the point where you just quit asking for prayer about it.
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You ever been there, just so embarrassed to ask for the same thing over and over and over in prayer?
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You've despaired that far.
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You feel like a loser.
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You feel the glory and joy of Christ has eluded you in some way.
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And so, you just want to lay down and quit?
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But there's deliverance for us.
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God gave us a new heart when we were born again.
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God has the ability to create new things.
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When David prayed in Psalm 51,
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Lord, create in me a new heart.
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I love that the word create that's used there is also used in Genesis 1,
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where it talks about creating the universe.
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So, by that same power that God created the universe,
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He speaks new life into our hearts.
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He has that power to create in us a new heart.
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So, God creates new hearts,
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but He draws near to people who are brokenhearted and contrite and lowly spirits.
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And I wanted to close with this,
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but Isaiah 57, just turn there and we'll be done.
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But as most of us good,
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reformed people,
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we often just neglect the love and compassion of our God.
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I know I do.
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But He loves and He delights to draw near to those
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who are a contrite heart and humble.
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So, in this context,
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God is speaking to Judah,
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but it also reveals His heart for His people
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when we are His people.
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So, Isaiah 57, verse 15,
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For thus says the one who is high and lifted up,
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who inhabits eternity,
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and whose name is holy.
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I dwell in the high and holy place.
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And we kind of stop there.
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Like, God's untouchable, right?
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And also with Him who is of contrite and lowly,
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humble spirit,
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to revive the spirit of the lowly
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and to revive the heart of the contrite,
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those who have been bruised by the sorrow of sin.
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For I will not contend forever,
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nor will I always be angry,
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for the spirit would grow faint before me
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in the breath of life that I have made.
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Isn't that amazing?
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Like, God knows just how hard He can push you
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without breaking you.
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And He does it out of compassion.
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He understands that at some point
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it would overwhelm you and destroy you,
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so He knows just how hard to press us.
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Verse 17,
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Because of the iniquity of His unjust gain,
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I was angry.
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I struck Him.
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I hid my face and was angry.
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But He went on backsliding in the way of His own heart.
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Then there.
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This is what God says,
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I have seen His ways,
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but I will heal Him.
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I will lead Him and restore comfort to Him and His mourners,
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creating the fruit of the lips,
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giving us new praise to give to God.
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Peace,
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peace to the far and to the near,
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says the Lord,
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and I will heal Him.
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So I encourage you to think about
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the real desire that Christ has
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to heal our broken hearts
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from how bad sin has messed us up.
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He wants to restore us.
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Go before Him,
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dig in His Word,
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and ask,
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like,
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why do I behave this way?
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Or why do I have these desires,
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our feelings?
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Let Him reveal to you what that is.
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And then take the Gospel
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and put it on you
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and massage it into your soul
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in those broken places.
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Let's pray together.