In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of not making excuses for our sins. He shares a personal story of a young preacher who felt sorry for himself after a long day of ministry and realized he was allowing his old nature to make him a slave to guilt. The preacher also discusses the concept of restitution, using the example of Zacchaeus in the Bible who made amends for his past wrongdoings. The sermon concludes with a reminder that sin is enslaving and that confessing and repenting of our sins is crucial for maintaining a close relationship with God.

I purposely didn't ask Brian when I had to finish, but I know when I want. But before turning to the Word, I do want to express my thanks, and I'm sure the thanks of all of those who have attended the conference, once again, for all the loving care that has been put forth, the labor of love that has been shown toward the Lord Jesus and toward His people. We are indeed very grateful. I'm going to read a verse to you. It's in Psalm 34, verse 18. I'm going to read two verses to you. See if you can catch a word, a significant word, that is found three times in these verses. Psalm 34, verse 18, The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Psalm 51, verse 17, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. These, O God, you will not despise. What is the word I am fishing for? Broken. Broken is the word that appears three times in these two verses. Our subject tonight, brokenness, the road to revival. It would not be right for me to say that broken, brokenness are words that are found oftentimes in the word of God, but they're found enough times to let us know it's an important subject. Just let me go over some of those times. Genesis 32, verses 22 through 32. Jacob's physical strength had to be broken so that his spiritual power would close him. Judges chapter 7, verses 18 and 19. Gideon's earthen vessels had to be broken so that the light shone out and terrified the enemy and sent them on retreat. Matthew 14, 19. Sorry, it's 14, 19. Seven loaves of bread and two fish had to be broken so that the multitude could be fed. Mark chapter 2, verses 1 to 12. The roof was broken and a paralytic was forgiven and healed. John chapter 12, verses 3 to 5. The jar was broken, the ointment poured forth, and the house was filled with the fragrance. First Corinthians 11, 24. The Savior's body was broken so that a multitude might be redeemed. Second Corinthians 4, 7. It's only as our earthen vessels are broken, our bodies, earthenware bodies are broken, that blessing flows out to others. Somebody said, God uses for his glory those people and things that are the most perfectly broken. God loves broken things and broken people. The beginning of brokenness is at the time of conversion, isn't it? True conversion is a form of brokenness. By nature, we're like wild colts, and a wild colt is useless for service until it has been broken. So the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins, and we fight, and we raise a fist against God. But the Holy Spirit wins, and we're brought to the place of repentance. And really, it's unconditional surrender, where we say, nay, but I yield, I yield. I can hold out no more. I sink by dying love compelled, and own the conqueror. We stand on the deck of the ship, and the Lord Jesus is there, and we reach out our hand to shake hands with him, and he says, your sword first, sir. We're broken at the foot of the cross, and then the Lord invites us to take his yoke upon us. Yokes are only for broken animals and broken people. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. You shall find rest to your souls. The yoke of the Lord Jesus doesn't chafe, it's a lovely yoke. When the Lord Jesus said, I am meek, the word there is broken. It really is. In Spanish, it's broken. It's the same word used for the breaking of a horse. What are some of the elements of brokenness? Number one, confession. Prompt confession. Going to God in a hurry, and to anyone that we have wronged, and spilling out our apology, our confession. Think of David's confession in Psalm 32 and 51. Confession should be prompt. True confession does not try to sweep things under the rug, or wait for time to heal. David waited a year. He didn't have to. He could have enjoyed life that year by confession. Prompt confession. Years ago, Professor Stuart Blankey was having a class in the college with some young men. He was teaching them, preparing them for oral readings. He told them to stand erect and hold their papers in their right hand. The next young fellow that got up stood there with his papers in his left hand. And Professor Blankey, a Christian, fairly barked out at him, put your papers in your right hand and be seated. The young fellow held up his right arm and there was no hand at the end of it. And the other students squirmed uneasily in their seats. As soon as Professor Blankey realized what had happened, he ran over to that fellow and he put his arms around him. And he said, I am so sorry. He said, I did not know. Prompt confession. Prompt apology. Some years later, that story was told in a meeting. After the story was told, a man stood up in a meeting and he held up his right arm. There was no hand there. He said, I am that man. Professor Blankey won me to Christ. But he never would have done it if he hadn't apologized. Dear friends, let us search our hearts tonight. Is there some apology that needs to be made? Is there something in our lives that we've tried to resist confessing and the blessing is held back as a result? Of that. Confession number two, confession should be individual. You know, it's so like me to get down and confess and use we instead of I. Yeah, we. We have been indiscreet, Lord. Well, it's not that at all. A man, a Christian worker was working with a young fellow and he used that we very frequently. The worker said, don't drag me into your sins. Say I. And that's exactly the way it should be. Number three, confession should be complete and forthright. It's funny to use a man not known to be a Christian as an illustration. But Senator D'Amato of New York. Sometime ago, he mocked Judge Ito of Japanese extraction. He mocked him by feigning a Japanese accent. Judge Ito, you'll remember, was the judge in the O.J. Simpson trial. And I believe that he's really a man of God, too. D'Amato mocked him publicly. And there was a storm of objection to that. And listen to what Senator D'Amato said. He said it was a sorry episode. It was totally wrong. It was a poor attempt at humor. I am sorry for any offense I caused to Judge Ito. I offer my sincere apology. I'm going to tell you, it took a man to say that, didn't it? And, you know, that's a lot. I've never seen anything about it in the paper since then. He closed the matter. He apologized and he made it right. Next, confession should be specific. Call a sin by its name. Gossip, temper, making a judgment before seeing both sides of the case. Driving young people away by a critical spirit. Call the sin by its name. That's what is required. And then confession should be unconditional. Not like the woman who said, um, if I have done anything wrong, I am willing to be forgiven. Or I will forgive you if you forgive me. Watch out for any confession that contains the word if. It's probably phony, probably a phony confession. Number six, we shouldn't try to trivialize a sin. And we do. We try to trivialize it. My behavior was inappropriate. These are the words of a president of the United States. Then it changed. Then it changed to my behavior was improper. Oh, that's an improvement. And then the third one was my behavior was wrong. He didn't call it a peccadillo, which some people do or indiscreet. Number seven, confession should be accompanied by the intention of forsaking the sin. A man's guilty conscience prompted him to write to the Internal Revenue Service. His note read, I haven't been able to sleep because last year when I filled out my income tax, I purposely misrepresented my income. I'm enclosing a check for $150. And if I can't sleep, I'll send the rest of it. Confession must be accompanied by the determination to forsake the sin. When old Joe was dying, he remembered that battle he had with Jim. And he didn't want to go out and meet God without that being made right. And so he called Jim to his bedside and he made a proper confession. He wanted to make things right. And everything seemed fine. But as Jim was leaving, Joe said, but remember, if I get well, this doesn't count. Confession should not make excuses. This is number eight, I believe. Confession should not make excuses. You've seen the t-shirt, the devil made me do it. It was my old nature. Don't say that when you go to court and get caught speeding. Because you'll find your old nature and your new nature for being an accessory to the fact. Dear Dr. Meyernstein told this story on himself in the days when he was a young preacher. He left Oakland with his wife one Sunday morning to go across to San Francisco. And he had a great day there. He had the first meeting at nine o'clock in the morning. He had the breaking of bread at 11 o'clock. In the early afternoon, he had a meeting. In mid-afternoon, he had an open-air meeting. And then after that, he had another meeting. And then in the evening, he had a meeting. And they were going home in the streetcar. And he was feeling sorry for himself. He just kind of cuddled in a corner and luxuriated. And when he called nerves, he was excusing things on the basis of nerves. He had seen other preachers do that. And he felt it was the thing to be done. His wife said something to him. He doesn't remember what she said. But he answered her in that husbandly way that so many men are familiar with. And she turned. I'm going to read what she said. She turned and she said to him, What do you mean snapping at me like that just after coming out of a meeting? You stand up on the platform and you look so holy. You would think butter would melt in your mouth. And then you snap at me on the way home. I haven't done anything to deserve that. I just asked you a simple question. What would your congregation think of you now? And Dr. Ironside was really abashed. He was really abashed. He said, My dear, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. But you know, I'm all worn out. I preached six times today and I'm tired. She said, Yes, I listened to you six times today and I'm tired, too. I'm just as tired as you are. If I can afford to be pleasant, you certainly can. He said I had to apologize. I learned then not to excuse a bad temper and call it nerves. True confession doesn't engage in self-defense. The aforementioned president said, Yes, it was wrong. Then in the next breath, he said, We're going to mount a vigorous defense. They're not confession, is it? And it should not attack the one who exposed the sin. His wife said, Yes, it was improper. But the investigation was not proper. It was the result of a right wing conspiracy. I mean, we can see it on other people. It's in every heart, isn't it? Every heart. At one point in his ministry, George Whitefield received a vicious letter accusing him of wrongdoing. And his result was his reply was brief and courteous. He said, I thank you heartily for your letter. As for what you and my other enemies are saying against me, I know worse things about myself than you will ever say to me. With love in Christ, George Whitefield. He didn't engage in self-defense. You know, that's the end of the matter when you say something like that, isn't it? Where there's no fuel, the fire goes out. How we need to practice confession to see God working in our midst. I believe there are assemblies and local churches today that are strangled because people in those assemblies, they're breaking bread together and they won't shake hands together. And God doesn't like it. It could be that God will speak to some here tonight. Something about a letter to be written, a phone call to be made, a personal visit to bring it all out in the open and apologize. Ken and Bill Butler was a cleric in the Church of England, and they sent him out to Rwanda to form kind of a seminary to teach some of the dear national fellows there. And he went out there and set up the seminary and he started to teach. And the more he the more he was teaching, the more liberal, the more modernistic his teaching became. And he was he was indoctrinating these fellows with doubts and denials concerning the word of God. There was a group of fellows in that class. They were known as the back of a balaclava, Kobe, something like that meant to the born again ones, the born again. And those fellows met every morning on the campus at four o'clock for prayer. And when Ken and Bill Butler heard about it, he was furious because he heard that they were praying for him. They were praying for his doctrine, for the doctrinal stance he was taking. And he was incensed. I mean, he was a cleric in the Church of England. Don't you understand? And so he called the leader of these dear fellows, these dear national believers. He called him into the office and he just laid him out in lavender and lace, you know, and the dear fellow took it meekly and humbly. I should just pause there and tell you the Church of Jesus Christ in Rwanda was being swept by revival at this time. And this was the major part of the revival, this type of apology that I'm going to tell you about the the dear national believer. Just he took it very, very patiently. All he said was, but you do need help from the bill, he said. Well, they prayed on and Bill Butler started to change. God began to answer prayer in his life and he swung back to an evangelical position. And he realized that in the honest, the ethical thing to do would be for him to go to the bishop and tell the bishop that he went to the bishop and told him how he had been teaching this modernism, these doubts concerning the Bible. And now he was getting back to the pure, simple word of God. Do you know what the bishop said? He said he put his head down and just buried his head in his hands. And he said, oh, Bill, he said, now you can never become a bishop. And Bill said, praise the Lord. Well, they transferred the administration, transferred Bill Butler to another school all together and passed a rule that there would be no meetings of students on the campus before seven o'clock in the morning. And these young fellows, they had to decide whether they ought to obey God or obey man. And they decided they ought to obey God. And they kept on meeting. They were expelled from the school two weeks before they would have graduated. Were they better? No, they were broken. They just took it from the Lord, rejoicing that they were able to take that stand for the Lord Jesus Christ and in faithfulness to him. Wonderful, isn't it? Really wonderful. Dr. Alexander White. Some of you might have his books. One day, a member of his congregation came into him and said, there's a visiting preacher in town, and he says that your colleague is not a believer. Dr. White was incensed that a man would say that about a faithful servant of the Lord. He blazed with indignation, irate that such a charge should be made. And then the visitor said to him, that isn't all, Dr. White. He said, this visiting preacher says you are not a believer. Dr. White said, please leave the office that I may be alone and examine my heart before God. See, he was a lion in the other man's cause, but he was a lamb in his own. Some of you may have heard of Festo Cavengera. He used to come here and work with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. He didn't like white people, and he didn't like the British who were running his country. The Lord told him to go to a British missionary and make things right with him. He's your brother, white, English, and all. He cycled 50 miles to ask the forgiveness. He said, I saw my brother. There stood before me a man whom Jesus loved, and we really had a wonderful time. I greeted him in the usual African way, embracing him. He stood there, two of us in the presence of the Liberator, capital L, hearts beating in two, not English and African, but born again believers, set free by the Son of God. We talked, we prayed, we sang, we left each other. It's now 33 years, and I still love him very much. You know, confession and apology strengthens ties. People say, well, that would be the end of a beautiful friendship. No, this strengthens ties, makes people love and respect one another more than ever. When love ceases to bleed, it ceases to bless. What happens when we refuse to confess? Well, first of all, fellowship with God is broken. Fellowship with God is broken. God is still our Father, but communion with Him is interrupted. Is that serious? Yes, it's a very serious thing to have fellowship with God broken, and not only with God, but with fellow believers as well. You thought you were hiding it under a carpet. No, it's still there and still needs to be confessed. We lose the joy of our salvation. That's why David prayed, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. We don't lose our salvation, but we lose the enjoyment of it. We lose our power for God. We're on the shelf, largely speaking, as far as active, effective service for Him is concerned. We lose our testimony. Our lips are sealed. We're still saved through the merits of Jesus, but we're not so fit for life, for service here on earth. If the sin is of a public nature, it causes the enemies of Christ to blaspheme. And how much that has gone on in the papers recently. Sin of a public nature by a professing servant of the Lord, and they love it. In blaspheme the name of our blessed Savior. Not only that, but we're living a lie. Our actions cast doubts on the reality of our conversion. It's a case of high talk, low walk. We talk cream, but we live skim milk. If we lose the access to God in prayer, you cannot have an effective prayer life. If sins remain unconfessed and unforgiven, our works will be burned up. Not ourselves, but our works will be burned up. And we're in danger of making shipwreck of our lives. A moment spent out of fellowship with God is a moment of crucial danger. When we could make that wrong choice that would disable us for the rest of our lives. We may lose our physical life here on earth and reward at the judgment seat of Christ. Sin is enslaving, really is enslaving. Regarding the chains of guilt, Robert Heffler wrote, there was a little boy visiting his grandmother on the farm. And he was given a slingshot for play with. And he went out in the backyard there behind the house. And grandma's favorite duck waddled across the yard. And he took the slingshot and swung it and let it go. And the duck dropped dead. Unfortunately, his sister was there and she saw what had happened. He was shocked and grieved. And in a panic, he hid the dead duck in the woodpile. But Sally had seen it all. And she said nothing. After lunch that day, the grandma said, Sally, let's wash the dishes. But Sally said, Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today. Didn't you, Johnny? And then she whispered to him, remember the duck? So Johnny did the dishes. Later, grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing. And grandma said, I'm sorry, but I need Sally to help make supper. But Sally smiled and said, well, that's all right, because Johnny told me he wanted to help. And she whispered again, remember the duck? So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed. After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's, he couldn't stand it any longer. He came to grandma and confessed that he killed the duck. She knelt down, gave him a hug and said, sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing by the window and I saw the whole thing. Because I love you, I forgave you. But I was just wondering how long you would be, how long you would let Sally make a slave of you. And it speaks to my heart, doesn't it? How long would you let Sally make a slave of you? The Lord sees every sin we commit, but he waits to see how long it will be before we stop being a slave to guilt before we confess the sin. Another element of brokenness is restitution. Difficult. You've perhaps stolen something, misappropriated something. It's got to be, it's got to be returned. That case, of course, is the principal case of it in the New Testament. I have a friend, when he got saved, he had been working in a department store and he had taken quite a few things. And when he got saved, the Lord marinated him about those things that he had taken. And one day he just had to go and talk to the personnel manager. And he thought, well, I may get thrown into jail for what I had done before. The manager, and you know what the manager said to him? You've been saved, haven't you? He was a Christian. You could wait and wait and think of all reasons for not going. You'd go and the Lord was there ahead of you, ahead of you. Brokenness not only involves my confessing, forsaking, apologizing and making restitution. It involves my willingness to forgive someone else when they come and apologize to me. Sometimes people have more of a problem with that. I think of Clara Barton. Somebody said to Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, they said to her, Mrs. Barton, don't you remember that mean thing she said to you? And Mrs. Barton said, I not only don't remember, I distinctly remember forsaking, forgetting. Not only do I not remember, I distinctly remember forgetting. And dear George Washington, Carver was made of the same material. As a young man, he was refused admission to a college because of the color of his skin. And some years later, the incident came up in a conversation and somebody said to him, what was the name of that college, Mr. Carver? And he said, it doesn't matter. I think that's gracious, don't you? That's really brokenness when he can say that. I think God gives us, in his words, the order of forgiveness. When somebody comes to me, confesses some wrong, and whenever the wrong is committed, first of all, I should forgive in my heart. Right away, I should forgive in my heart. I haven't administered forgiveness yet, but I have forgiven him. And that takes the monkey off my back. Then if he comes and confesses and repents, I administer forgiveness. And incidentally, if somebody comes to you and confesses some, apologizes, confesses and apologizes, don't say, oh, forget it, it was nothing. Don't say that. That isn't what they want to hear. They want to say, I forgive you. When I was reading about this in chapter 17 of Luke, and you might just turn to that Luke chapter 17, I really enjoyed this very much. Luke 17, verse 4. Bible was never written merely by men. I'll tell you that when you see these things in it. I'm going to begin at verse 1. Then he said to the disciples, it's impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him to whom they do come. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. If he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day and seven times in a day returns to you saying, I repent, you shall forgive him. And the apostle said to the Lord, increase our faith. I mean, those two verses go together. Wasn't that a wonderful reaction? Really, Lord, we have to do that seven times in a day. He's confessed and repented seven times and we're to forgive him. Increase our faith. We need more than we have right now to handle a situation like that. I want to tell you, God hates an unforgiving spirit, an unforgiving spirit. I think it's so tragic to read the history of Darby and Mueller. You know, they had such a terrible falling out in their lifetimes. Both thought they were being faithful to the Lord, I'm sure. And Darby in the latter years of his life, he went to the orphanage there in Bristol to make things right with Mr. Mueller. He went into the foyer there and said he'd like to see Mr. Mueller. They said, Mr. Mueller's upstairs. We'll call him. So they sent word up to him and he came down. And before Darby had a chance to apologize, before he had a chance to make things right, Mueller said to him, you have, he said, you have acted very wickedly. He said, I have only 10 minutes to give you. That was the end of it. That was the end of it. And it goes into eternity. In the early days of the church, there was a martyr, a man who was going forth to the fire to be burned at the stake. And when he was on the journey out to the pyre, somebody who had wronged him came to him and knelt by him and begged for forgiveness. And the martyr strode by him, paying no attention to him. His name is never listed in the martyrs of the Christian church. He was unwilling to forgive. Brokenness is enduring wrong without retaliation. The blessed Lord Jesus is the example. When he was reviled, reviled not again. That wasn't his mode of operation. And we're called to follow him. Brokenness means repaying evil with good. Repaying evil with good. Repaying every wrong with a kindness. That's Christian living. I think of the man goading the elephant with this steel goad, sharp goad, moving the elephant along. And all of a sudden, the goad falls to the ground with a great clanging sound. And the elephant reaches around and picks it up with its trunk and brings it to the man. That brokenness in the human, in the human sense. And brokenness is honoring others above self, esteeming others better than self. Abraham esteemed lot better than himself, gave him the best pasture land. I always like it when people would, they would try to engage H.A. Ironside in controversy over some peripheral matter, something that didn't really count. And he always had this answer. He said, brother, when we get to heaven, one of us is going to be wrong. And perhaps it'll be me. The end of argument. Can't argue with a man like that. A minister was coming to the platform. He was in a side room with other group of men. He was coming to the platform, was greatly loved. And when he first appeared at the door, there was a great clapping for him. He quickly swung back inside the room so the others might come out and get the applause as it were for them. Brokenness is prompt obedience, broken in accepting the will of God. I think of that cult, never been broken and yet submitted to the Lord Jesus and carried him into Jerusalem. Brokenness is keeping one's cool in the crisis, in the crisis. And seeing God's hand in it all really speaks to our heart. Brokenness doesn't mean that a man is a milquetoast. Actually, brokenness really takes power. He's not a jellyfish, a powerless cipher, exerting no influence on those around him. On the contrary, broken people are the most influential. Meekness is not weakness, it's strength under control. A meek man is one who accepts the will of God without resentment, who can afford to be gentle and mild because of inward strength. And he was under the perfect control of God. I wonder if the Lord is speaking to our hearts tonight. In marriage relationships, like Dr. Ironside and his wife, a spat could have erupted into a civil war. Apology solves it right. But I think of how our divorce courts could be largely emptied if people just learned the lesson of brokenness, of being willing to say, I am sorry, I was wrong, please forgive me. We need it in our assemblies too. We need it in our assemblies. These terrible feelings that can come among sisters or among brothers, you know, among families even, and they can all be made right. And those relationships can be stronger than ever they were in the past. I'm just going to close with this person well known to me. It's written by an elder, and he had left his wife for another woman. He wrote this letter of apology. After 22 years of riotous living, which I deeply regret, I have returned to God asking his forgiveness for those years of sin and shame. In his mercy and love, he has drawn me back into fellowship with himself and with his son, Jesus Christ. I am now enjoying a peace and sense of well-being, which I have not experienced for many years. Praise his name. The words of David in Psalm 32 and 51 have new meaning and joy for me. Blessed is the man whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity. I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my transgression unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. And in the words of Psalm 51, he has restored unto me the joy of my salvation. He said, I can hardly comprehend his grace. I want to apologize to you and many of my brothers and sisters in Christ for the shame and hurt I have caused. I'm sorry for my sin, wish there was some way to make it go away, but I can't do that. And I suppose the memory of those wasted years will haunt me for years to come. I know that many of you have been praying for me. To paraphrase Philippians 1, 18 and 19, I know that by means of your prayers and the help which comes from the Holy Spirit, I am free. I've written to all my family asking their forgiveness and rejoicing with all of them in God's answered prayers. Children need to apologize to parents. Parents sometimes need to apologize to children. Employees need to apologize to employers. Sometimes employers, Christian employers need to apologize to employees. One Christian employer wrote the following to his employees. I spend almost all my energies and priorities in forwarding my business and in the pursuit of personal pleasure. I practically never read the Bible. My sins in both thought and deed are grave indeed. The 10% I give to God is a mockery insofar as sacrificial giving is concerned. I'm demanding and critical as a boss. All too often I'm harsh and unloving as a husband. I don't attend church without fail like I did as a child. When people praise me, you can see why I feel like such a fraud. That's why I feel compelled to reveal with shame what a miserable example of a Christian I am. Praise no one but the Lord. This letter was sent to 15 million people who received his catalog. That's confession. That's confession and a tremendous testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ. Shall we close in prayer? Dear Lord, in these closing moments we pray that you will search us and know our hearts. Try us and know our ways and see if there's any wicked way in us. Lead us in a way everlasting. Help us to ransack our lives and drag out those areas where confession and apology are called for. Break everything that makes it so hard for us to say, I was wrong, I am sorry. Bring, Lord, to the surface whatever hinders revival in our fellowships, we pray. That your name may be exalted. Sinners saved and believers enjoy the abundant life. We ask it in the Savior's name. Amen.