God Heals Broken Hearts

October 15, 2023

Morning Worship

MVBC

God Heals Broken Hearts

Isaiah 61:1-3

Theme: God shows us how He heals our broken hearts.

Welcome to Mountain View Baptist Church! We are excited to have you attending with us today. We trust you will receive a warm welcome and our service will be a blessing to you. It would be an honor to connect with you.

You don’t have to live very long in this world before you find yourself with a broken heart. A broken heart is because of the broken world we live in. American songwriter Bob Dylan wrote: “Broken bottles, broken plates, broken switches, broken gates, broken dishes, broken parts, streets are filled with broken hearts. Broken words, never meant to be spoken, everything is broken.”

Many will live with a broken heart and die with a broken heart. There are many reasons for broken hearts: Psychology Today website May 18, 2021 said: the many causes of heartbreak include breakups, infidelity, and rejection. The average broken heart according to statistics is 20 years of age is when it begins.

Over the years many Christians have had broken hearts because of failed expectations. Things never turn out the way they wanted and their hearts are broken. Marriage is not what they thought, children don’t always obey, and or disappointment in church life. There are some today who will not attend or refuse to come back to church because they have been disappointed with someone or something in the church.

One of the Atheists groups who are in the forefront fighting against believers is a group called Freedom from Religion Foundation. One of the co-directors is a man by the name of Dan Barker. If you read the bio of Dan Barker, you will find out that he was a preacher who preached for 19 years in a touring musical ministry and cross-country evangelism. He announced he is atheist in 1984 and now he is a director of an organization fighting against what he did for 19 years. I dare say, somewhere along the way, he was disappointed and his heart was broken in those 19 years in the ministry.

In the passage we read, God shows us how He brings healing to broken hearts. You cannot heal a broken heart yourself. The world has no answers. Alcohol doesn’t mend a broken heart. Drugs don’t mend a broken heart. A different location doesn’t mend a broken heart. There is only one place: Jesus heals the broken heart.

In 1971 a very popular song was sung the worldly group the Beegees: I can think of younger days when living for my life Was everything a man could want to do I could never see tomorrow I was never told about the sorrow

And how can you mend a broken heart? How can you stop the rain from falling down? Tell me, how can you stop the sun from shining? What makes the world go 'round?

How can you mend a this broken man? Yeah How can a loser ever win? Somebody please help me mend my broken heart And let me live again, la-la, la-la, la

They were singing from a broken heart an wanted relief.

Here the prophet is speaking to a nation filled with people who have broken hearts. They have been looking for deliverance from their deliverance. They want their Messiah to occupy the throne of Jerusalem as promised by the prophets. However, Israel too often focused on the physical world, the temporal world and neglected the future, eternity.

The background of this passage is the “Year of Jubilee” described in Lev. 25:7ff. Every seven years, the Jews observed a “sabbatical year” and allowed the land to rest. After seven sabbaticals, for forty-nine years, they were to celebrate the fiftieth year of Jubilee. During that year, all debts were canceled, all land was returned to the original owners, the slaves were freed, and everyone was given a fresh new beginning.

If you know Jesus as your Savior, you are living today in a spiritual “Year of Jubilee.” You have been set free from bondage, your spiritual debt has been paid; you are living in the acceptable year of the Lord.

There are three ways Jesus heals the broken hearted.

The first way . . .

1. Jesus gives healing

This prophecy was quoted by Jesus in Luke connecting this prophecy to Himself.

“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” (Luke 4:16–21)

Bind up v.1-means to tie or fasten something tightly together. Brokenhearted means broken into pieces, shatter or smashed. Heart is one’s inner self.

Jesus was saying only He can put together what has been shattered. A broken heart is a heart shattered by sin, despair, and disappointment.

“Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.” (Psalm 69:20)

“God can do wonders with a broken heart; if we give him all of the pieces.”

Author unknown

The world may crush you and break your heart through its false promises and empty dreams. The devil will do everything he can do break your heart towards God. He will convince believers to believe God has failed us in order to break our hearts. There are believers who have expected God to do something for them and He did not. During these times, believers are tempted to run away from God.

“The poor broken-heartedsinner, going into his bedroom, bends his knee, but can only utter his mournful cry in the language of sighs and tears. Look! that groan has made all the harps of heaven thrill with music; that tear has been caught by God, and put into a vase made especially for tears, to be perpetually preserved.” C.H. Spurgeon

2. Gospel gives hope

The message of Jesus is a message of great joy.

“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” (Luke 2:10)

In a broken world filled with emptiness and turmoil, God gives us great joy. Joy is the flavor of Christianity. Just telling people to be happy won’t work. That’s annoying. But the gospel doesn’t do that. It gives us hope beyond everything that beats us down.

“Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:” (1 Peter 1:8)

The gospel is given to us by Christ which is a gift to the world. Jesus’s mission is to bring good news to the poor and bind up the brokenhearted and to proclaim liberty to the captives and comfort all who mount and anoint them with gladness.

As Jesus quoted this passage He was saying the gospel announces that Christ has won the victory over everything that’s against us. The good news is the gospel brings hope to brokenhearted because only Christ can bind up the heart. He can put the pieces back together. Jesus offers hope for the brokenhearted and will give continual hope. Not just for a moment but forever.

Jesus is called the blessed hope.

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” (Titus 2:13)

He offers hope to you today. You may have been disappointed or hurt by something or someone outside of your control and not fault of your own. The Psalmist says

“He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3)

The preaching of the gospel and the cross gives comfort, gives hope. Jesus is anointed to preach good tidings. This good news offers joy beyond anything this world.

The third way . . .

3. Jesus gives new life

It is through new life in Christ that our hearts are bound up by Jesus. There are some people who love being miserable and want everyone around them to be miserable. This new life given to us by Jesus is deliver us from a miserable life.

This is how Paul can write the book of Philippians which is about joy, though he was in prison. You see circumstantially we can live in joy when we have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

The gospel provides: liberty from the bondage and penalty of sin. It provides comfort in our mourning, oil of jjoy and the garments of praise.

Our lives are called the trees of righteousness. A changed life means we will desire to live for God and honor Him. This brings glory to God.

Are you brokenhearted today? The old puritan preacher Thomas Watson says: “Faith lives in a broken heart. . . . saving faith always grows in a heart humbled for sin, in a weeping eye and a tearful conscience.” Thomas Watson

What about your heart? Is it broken today? The world will use you and abuse, but Jesus will heal your brokenheart. If you have never accepted Christ, today is the perfect day to receive Him. Will you come and let someone show you how to be a Christian?

Christian, your heart may be broken, just as God gave you salvation to mend your heart, He is willing to heal your heart that been broken by the times you have not been walking with Him. Christian will you come home to Him today?