I realize that preachers frequently have enormous egos. We have a terrible tendency to take ourselves too seriously in what we do. Now, I mean by that that we often think we are far more important than we actually are. Most every preacher at some time or another is guilty of that. Elijah was not the last prophet to think he served God alone. And he certainly is simply typical of God's servants at any given time when they are downcast and distraught because they see so little taking place, so little happening in their lives and ministries, and they feel like they are left alone to serve God. And so we often think we're too important. We often think we have more significance than we actually do.

But having said that, having made that acknowledgment, I want you to understand this. I want everybody here to understand this. Every man, woman, and child, I want everybody to listen carefully. The noblest calling, the highest honor, the greatest work, the most ennobling privilege and labor that can be given to any man upon this earth is that of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. As burdensome and as heavy as the work of gospel preaching is, at times I wouldn't trade places with anybody, anywhere, for anything.

The Apostle Paul expresses what I honestly, in my heart, acknowledge. Unto me who am less than the least of all is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ. Oh, what a privilege for a man, especially a man such as this one, to be allowed of God to preach the gospel of his free grace to eternity bound men and women.

Gospel preaching, you see, is God's ordained means by which he is pleased to call out his elect and give them life and faith in Christ. Sometimes theologians and religious folks talk about a means of grace. Well, preaching is God's means of grace. If you would obtain the grace of God, the way you're going to get it is through preaching.

I have no question at all that's so. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans and said, I'm ready to go and preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it. This preaching of the gospel, when blessed of God, and oh, that's the crucial issue. when blessed of God, it is the power of God to salvation. The scriptures tell us plainly that it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

Not by foolish preaching, but by the foolishness of preaching. That is, by what men look upon, men everywhere look upon as being just a foolish thing. For somebody to spend their days, mornings, and evenings, spend week after week, month after month, year after year, listening to a man preach. Men think that's a foolish thing, that's a foolish waste of time. They look at preaching as something that's trivial and insignificant and not to be regarded as too great an issue.

But the apostle says it's by this foolishness of preaching, by a man standing here, telling you from God's Word what God in grace does for sinners through Jesus Christ the Lord, by that means it pleased God to save them that believe. For the preaching of the cross is to them that believe the power of God unto salvation. The Apostle Peter, turn there if you will, 1 Peter chapter 1, the Apostle Peter declares plainly that it is by the preaching of the gospel that sinners are converted.

In verse 23, you remember what James said? He said, of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. God begat us in the life and faith in Christ through the word of truth, according to his sovereign will. Now, Peter says in 1 Peter 1, 23, that we are born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man is as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever.

And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." Peter is saying, now, the word by which we are born of God, this word, what you've got right there in your hand, this word right here, this word of God is preached to you when the gospel of Jesus Christ is clearly expounded to you, and by that means God is pleased to save sinners.

Oh, what a privilege. What a privilege. You go back and read the illustration that's given in Ezekiel 37. Our Lord took Ezekiel up into a high mountain overlooking a valley of dry bones. Apparently there'd been a terrible war a long, long time ago. And he said to the prophet Ezekiel, Can these bones live? And Ezekiel looked up into the heavens and he said, oh Lord, God thou knowest. If it depends on me, they can't live. If it's up to me, if anything about this thing depends on me, no, no. But God, if you speak, oh God, if you speak from heaven, these bones can live. Now, Ezekiel could not make the bones live. But God said to him, Ezekiel prophesied to the boat. And before he got done, they stood up a living amen.

I sure would like to have been that prophet, wouldn't you? Oh, not that there's anything in the prophet, not that there's anything in the prophet's word, but all to be used of God to raise sinners from the death and corruption and depravity and bondage of sin into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Oh, there's no privilege like that in the world. No privilege like it in the world.

The gospel ministry is the ascension gift of the Lord Jesus to his church. Turn to Ephesians 4. Ephesians chapter 4. We live in a day and age in which preachers by and large are looked upon as contemptible things and preaching is looked upon as a contemptible thing. And nobody have much respect or regard for the ministry of the word, regrettably, including those who are supposed to be preaching it. But this is one of the ascension gifts of our Lord to his church. In Ephesians chapter 4, verse 8, the apostle is writing about Christ's resurrection and the gift that he gives.

Wherefore, he saith, when he ascended up on high, he made captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might feel all things. But now notice verses 9 and 10 are in parentheses. Read verse 11 right in connection with verse 8.

He gave gifts unto men, and he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith, and in the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." What has God done? He's given to his church men gifted and calmed and ordained of God to take the word of God and expound the gospel to you day after day, week after week, year after year, as you make your pilgrimage through this world so that you might be built up in the faith, so that your hearts may be comforted and strengthened, so that your faith may grow and your hearts may grow in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord. Now that's the blessed, blessed privilege of gospel ministry. How I pray, and I do pray, that God may be pleased to call some of you, particularly some of you young men, to this blessed, blessed work of preaching the gospel. I hope Ian won't mind me telling the story about him.

One Sunday morning, he was standing out here at the door. This has been a long time ago. He's just a little shaver. And you may not remember this. He said, I think I'll be a preacher. And I saw him look and I said, why do you say that? And he was looking at the offering plates. He said, y'all get all that money. Regrettably, a lot of preachers do just that. They're hirelings.

Oh, but would to God. He might be pleased to call you and any others here to preach the gospel of his free grace. For what privilege? the privilege of directing sinners in the way of life in Jesus Christ the Lord. Now, turn to Isaiah 61, if you will.

Here's the highest honor that could ever have been put upon the ministry of the Word. God Almighty, the Lord of heaven and earth, made His Son to be a preacher. One of the old Puritans expressed it like this. He said God had only one son and he made a preacher of it. Now tonight I want to talk to you about Christ the preacher.

Listen to what he says. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek and he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. Let me show you four or five things clearly set forth in this text. I hope you will hear me and I hope the message is of interest to you. First, the Lord Jesus Christ as a man was made a preacher by the special anointing and call of God the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings.

As it is written of God's high priest, you can read it in Hebrews 5 verse 4, it must also be said of all who preach the gospel, no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God. Now, I don't know how to explain this. I won't make any effort, but I'm very confident that if a man has the anointing of God upon him to preach the gospel, he knows it and the folks to whom he preaches know it. If a man is called of God to preach the gospel, it's not a matter of speculation, it's not a matter of questioning this. That man who is called of God knows that he's called, anointed, and gifted of God for the work, and the folks who listen to him know that he's called, anointed, and gifted of God for the work. It is not a matter of looking at him and saying, I like his style, I like his mannerisms, I I like the way he says things, I like the way he looks, the way he dresses, all of that nonsense. I've got nothing to do with it. It's a matter of hearing a man speak for God as God's ambassador and the power of God to your soul. Now that man who's called of God does. If I'm called of God, I do. If I don't, you can mark it down, I'm not called of God.

If any man is called to preach the gospel, there are certain things that are obvious. and obvious from this text of scripture, as our Lord Jesus was prepared and sent of God to be a gospel preacher. Now, he's much more than that, but he was prepared and sent of God to be a gospel preacher. Even so, any man who is called of God to preach the gospel is prepared for the work by God. He is prepared by God's dealing with him in providence and by God's dealing with him in grace and by God's special anointing upon him for the work of the ministry.

Somehow or another, Ian and I were talking about this earlier today, I think it was, this thing of training preachers and preparing preachers. Somehow we've got the idea that preachers get training Like a fellow gets training, goes to school, Doug went to school to be an engineer. He learned all about being an engineer. He's got his textbooks and he's learned stuff about engineering and he's a good engineer.

But that's not the way you get to be a preacher. You can't go to school and learn how to preach. You can't go to school and learn how to minister to the souls of men. Somehow a man must be prepared of God for the ministry of the gospel. Now please don't misunderstand me. Preachers ought to be well-trained. Preachers ought to be disciplined. Preachers ought to be diligent students of the Word of God. But you can't learn the ministry from a seminary or Bible college.

It cannot be done. It cannot be done. The man who is prepared of God to preach the gospel is prepared first by converting grace. He has learned by experience the grace of God. You can't show men the way unless you're walking in the way. You can't tell men the truth unless you know the truth. You can't guide men in righteousness unless you have been put in the way of righteousness by grace. So the person who's called of God first is himself converted.

But he's also taught of God. Taught of God. Now God uses men, yes. God uses men. I read and I read preachers of the past and I listen and I try to learn what I can from older men particularly as I am in their company in this world. But you listen carefully now.

The only way a man will understand this word is if he is taught of God. Taught of God. And when God calls a man to preach the gospel, he gives him a comprehensive understanding of divine truth. Not that he understands everything revealed in the book.

My soul. I've been studying this book every day for 27 years. And I want to be honest with you. The more I study it, the more I realize how little I know about it. The more I study it, the bigger it gets. This living word of God. is beyond my comprehension. And yet, at the same time, I have absolutely no question God has given me understanding in the whole message of Scripture. I know what this book teaches. I know of whom this book speaks. And if you'll listen to me, I'll show you. I'll tell you.

Not only does God give a man understanding in the Scriptures, but he gives him the ability to communicate the Scriptures so that he is apt to teach. He has the gift of preaching the gospel. He has the gift of communicating divine truth to men, and he has the gift of doing so in such a manner that they understand what he says.

They understand it. They hear it and understand it. It makes sense. Understand that. They may not believe it, but understand what he said. He's perfectly clear. He's told me the truth concerning God. Now, if a man can't communicate the truth, if a man can't stand before you and talk to you plainly out of this book, make you understand what it says, he's not called of God to preach. That's what preaching is, it's communicating. It's telling folks what God has taught you from his word, what God himself teaches plainly in his word. Not only is he prepared of God, but those who preach the gospel are placed by God. They're placed by God, promoted by God. They're not self-promoters. They're just not self-promoters.

Our Lord said to his disciples, you've not chosen me, but I've chosen you and ordained you. That word ordained, it means I've placed you. I put you right where I want you. I put you right where I want you. Folks ask me frequently about going somewhere else, considering another ministry, considering another pastorate or whatever. I don't have any. don't have any interest whatsoever. God places His servants. Places His servants.

I had a, I think I told you a long time ago, I had some folks call from out west, wanting me to consider coming and pastoring a church, and I said, I'm not interested. They said, how big is your church? I said, we got about 30, 35 members. So we got 400 members. I said, I'm still not interested. They said, well, we can pay you good salary. I'm still not interested. I'm just not interested.

God places His servants. And when God places his servants as they follow him, he provides for them. He provides for them. So that God's servants don't carry their own purse. They don't provide for themselves. They go about serving the interest of Christ's kingdom, and he takes care of the bread and butter. He takes care of those things which they need. As they serve him, he provides for the necessities of serving him. That's the reason when he sent his disciples out, he said, don't you carry your own purse with you. Don't carry two coats with you, don't carry two pairs of shoes with you. This laborer is worthy of his hire and God will provide for him.

I have fellas occasionally write to me or call me and they'll say, well, God's called me to preach. And I have finally discovered that maybe the best way to deal with folks is to be plain so they can't miss you. I had a fella wrote to me just a while back, said God called him to preach. And I said, what makes you think so? What makes you think so?

If God called you to preach, you'll be preaching. If God called you to pastor, you'll be pastoring. God knows where to find His servants and God knows how to place His servants in His vineyard as He wants them in His vineyard. And God's servants, as they serve Him, will be protected and preserved by Him. The Apostle Paul was in Corinth. He was preaching and he was downcast, upset, ready to Give it up, go somewhere else. And God said, don't you be afraid, Paul.

No man shall sit on thee to hurt thee. He didn't say no man shall sit on thee. He just said he's not going to hurt you. He had lots of folks to sit on him while he was there. Lots of folks determined to destroy him while he was there. But nobody could do him any harm.

God said, I'm with you. I'm with you. And God's servants need not fear the faces of men, neither their smiles nor their frowns. God's servants speak for Him, and speaking for Him, they tell men the truth, regardless of consequence, I'm God's servant. I don't depend on you. I don't depend on Grace Badges Church. I don't depend on this body of believers. Dear as you are to me, I'm God's servant. I can't be bowing and scraping before men. God's servants won't do it.

The Lord Jesus Christ, sets before us an example of a man, then, who is, by special anointing and calling of God, made a preacher. Secondly, the Lord Jesus Christ, oh, how earnest and diligent he was in his work. He was always at it. He was always at it. No matter where he was, no matter what he was doing, he was always preaching, either preaching or getting ready to preach. This was his calling. and he pursued it with all his might, incessantly. He liked the work and he honored the work by the way he approached it. He preached in the streets and he preached in the synagogues. He was never a proper preacher. He was never a proper preacher.

I recall years ago reading about Mr. Spurgeon. He used to wear his broad brim hat and I think he wore a Some kind of blue, I don't know what it was, gingham or something, some kind of blue commoner's suit, you know, and he smoked a stogie. And one of the critics wrote in the London paper said he was the most un-clerical of all clerics. All but the Son of God.

He didn't fit the mold. He didn't fit the mold. But I got news for you. You find me in this book, find me in this book, any prophet, any preacher who ever fit the mold. Find me one. of what men expect a preacher to be. The Son of God didn't. He went about preaching in the streets. Oh, well, we don't want our preacher preaching in the streets. He did. He did. He went to the synagogues and he preached.

Well, you can't go in there. Those folks don't like what you're going to say. They've got their religion established. They've got their order. They've been doing it this way for 2,000 years. Don't go in there and disturb them. He walked right into the synagogue. You claim you're sitting in God's house. I'll tell you who God is. And he told them plainly. And they tried to kill him right in the synagogues.

Our Lord Jesus performed his miracles. But the reason he performed the miracles was not so that men could be impressed by the miracles, but so that he could use the miracles to display his divinity and use the miracles as an illustration of what he preached. He sometimes rested and prayed. But the reason he rested and prayed was so that he could preach. be strengthened to go on about his work. He was himself in casual conversation frequently with men, but his conversations, his casual conversations, as you read them in the scriptures, were sometimes his very best sermons.

Our Lord was sitting in the house of Mary and Martha, and Martha was a little disturbed. Because the Lord Jesus was just sitting talking and Mary was sitting at his feet. And Martha said, Lord, Mary has left me to serve alone. And the Lord Jesus said, Martha, you're cumbered about many things. But Mary has chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her.

And he said, oh, what a sermon he gave. Just in casual conversation. He was in the temple one day. He wasn't doing any preaching. Oh, but what preaching he did, there was a widow who came forward with two mites. And he said, tell us, I'll see her. What a sermon he gave. Just in casual conversation.

Our Lord Jesus, as he was in the house of Simon the leper, and this woman came in and anointed his feet and wiped them with her hairs and kissed them, and she anointed him in gratitude and thanksgiving and praise. He turned around and asked Simon, said, now, Simon, you're thinking about this, but tell me, who loves most? He to whom much is forgiven. And our Lord said, that's right. And this lady here has demonstrated something called love. love for the Son of God, because he'd been forgiven much.

Our Savior preached in the beginning of his ministry, and he preached throughout his ministry to the very close of it, even as he hung upon the bloody tree. Oh, what messages the Son of God declared. And then he sent his disciples out to preach. He sent out his disciples, the twelve, and told them, go out and preach. Sent them out two by two. Later on, he sent out seventy of them, two by two, and told them how to go and preach the gospel. And just before he ascended back into glory, he gave a commission to his church, and he said to his church, now this is what you are to do. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.

That's the business of God's church. My soul, I could spend the rest of the evening talking about that. Churches these days have gotten into everything under the shining sun, and the last thing on this earth you expect when you go to church is somebody to stand up and preach. Let's go have a party, let's have a recital, let's have this, let's have that, let's have a ball game, let's do anything but preach! God sent his church in this world with a message. And the message is the message of redemption and grace in Christ the Lord. The church has no other business. No other function. Anything the church of God does other than the preaching of the gospel is out of order. Always out of order.

Mr. Spurgeon said concerning the Lord Jesus, he lived the prince of preachers. He died and became the theme of preachers. And he lives again as the Lord of Preachers. Now thirdly, the message that our Savior preached was exactly the same as that which all God-ordained preachers preach.

Good tidings. Look what he says. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings. Good tidings. Isaiah 52.7, that's how the prophet describes God's servants. preaching good tidings. The Apostle Paul said, necessities laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel, if I don't declare the good tidings of redemption and grace in Christ. Now don't ever imagine that our Lord's ministry was the vague, ambiguous, offend none, help none, please all preaching of modern clergymen.

Oh no. The Lord's doctrine was crystal clear. I mean crystal clear. Buddy, you didn't have to go out after the service and scratch your chin and say, I wonder what he meant by that. You didn't have to go out and say, I'll go down and get me a book and read up on that subject. I didn't understand what he was saying.

Oh, no. When he preached, when he got done preaching, everybody heard what he said. Now, they didn't believe it, but they heard what he said. They understood clearly what he said. Our Savior declared the ruin of man by the fall of Adam, and he declared it with such emphatic clarity that there was no possibility of anybody misunderstanding it.

He said, your heart's evil. Your heart's evil. Your heart's corrupt. You're depraved at heart. That's your problem. The thing is that in the very roots and essence of your being, you're a rebel against God, and you have been ever since Adam fell into God.

Our Lord Jesus declared redemption by his own blood. He declared that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And he said, I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me, so that I, by the merit and power and efficacy of my redemption, will gather sinners from all parts of the world unto myself. Our Savior preached clearly regeneration by the Holy Spirit. He said you must be born again. You must be born again.

Religion won't do you any good. Religion is not going to help you. I don't care if you were baptized as a baby, dedicated as a baby, prayed over as a baby, raised up in the cradle roll, been in Sunday school and church all your life. Religion won't help you one iota, not one iota.

You must be born again. You must be born again. Boy, that's old-fashioned doctrine. Yep, it is. But you still must be born again. That's right. You must be born again. Well, preacher, don't you know that that's Puritan doctrine? I know. But you still must be born again. Don't you know that that's outdated? I know that. I've been outdated all my life.

But you still must be born again or you can't enter the kingdom of God. Our Savior proclaimed to sinners that the only possibility of rest for their souls is faith in him. And it still is. It still is. Come unto me. All ye that labor heavy labor, how can you rest? You won't rest come to Christ. I want to tell you something.

You'll never find it anywhere else or in anything else. Our Lord Jesus proclaimed righteousness, but not like the Pharisees. He preached righteousness, but not like religionists. Oh no. He preached righteousness, but not yours. Not yours. He said, except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.

What? Exceed? Exceed? But they're the most righteous men walking on the earth. You got to be better than that. God demands perfect righteousness, and the only way you can get it is by divine imputation. I am, he says, the Lord your righteous. The dead would hear his voice, and those that hear will be raised to life everlasting.

You may be sitting there, some of you, You think, well, now Brother Don, do you really believe in the resurrection? You don't really believe that a man who died at sea and his body was cast over the side of a ship, and the sharks and barracudas came along and ate him, and they cast him out into the draft in the sea, and his disencumbered body had been scattered through all the elements of the earth. Or a man who's been buried in the ground with no coffin and no broth and the worms have eaten his flesh and his body has decayed and rotted and gone back to the dust and become fertilizer for the ground. And a man who was burned at the stake and his ashes scattered to the winds. You don't really believe that God Almighty is going to raise him from the dead, do you?

Oh yeah, yes you do. Our Lord said, I am the resurrection and the life. It'll be no trouble to him. It'll be no trouble to him. He breathed into man the breath of life. He gathered Adam up out of the dust of the earth to start with. It'll be no trouble to him by his word to raise the dead in perfect glory. And he declared that there would be a perfect restoration of everything. Perfect restoration. That which we lost through the ruin and fall of our father Adam. We have gained again through the glory of God in Jesus Christ. And he said, Father, the glory which you gave me, I've given to them. The Lord Jesus preached the gospel. He always preached the gospel. He never preached anything else. Now listen to me. He never stooped to secular, political, or even moralistic themes. He preached free grace for guilty sinners.

And it is not our business to preach morality, ethics, rules of duty, Sabbath keeping, and law obedience, but it is our responsibility to preach grace. Mr. Spurgeon said, we have not so much to declare what men ought to do as to preach the good news of what God has done for them.

Oh, would that God every preacher would hear my voice. It's not our business to tell men what to do. It's our business to tell men what God has done. God'll take care of what they're to do. If I could get the ear of every gospel preacher in this world, I'd say to him, stick to the gospel. Stick to the gospel. Just stick to it. Just keep preaching day in, day out, week in, week out.

Wherever you take your text, preach Christ crucified. For there is enough in the gospel of Christ to absorb a man's thoughts, dominate his emotions, inspire his heart, rebuke his sin, and fill his life. No wonder Paul said, I'm determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. If he who knows all things preached only one thing meek, then his servants, who know nothing in themselves, can't do any better than that. Look at the people to whom the Son of God preached the good tidings. He has sent me to preach good tidings unto the meek.

If you'll read Luke's account of that in Luke 4 verse 18, you'll find this word meek is translated by Luke to be poor. The various commentators and translators have given several meanings to the word. It might be translated afflicted, humble, or gentle, or meek, or poor. But these meek ones to whom the Son of God has come to preach, and these meek ones to whom he still preaches by his servants, are people who have the lofty, lofty views of themselves brought down.

You see, the gospel The gospel addresses sinners as sinners. It puts Merle J. Hart and Don Fortner on one level, and that level, same level as fellas over here in the state penitentiary. Same level. Sinners. Well, we're not like this fella. We're sinners. Now, the meek are folks who recognize themselves to be sinners. Their lofty, high view of who and what we are. Look where I come from, look what I do. Oh, get that. We stand before God Almighty guilty sinners.

The meek are those who are troubled and tossed about with sin. Their sin affects them. Their souls grieve for sin. The meek are men and women who have been driven away from the vain hopes of self-salvation and self-righteousness and self-commendation to God. The meek know their sin and they feel the terror of God's wrath. The meek are men and women who are slipping fast into hell and their coattails are on fire with hell and the judgment of God is upon them. And they know the judgment of God is rightly upon them.

The meek are folks who can't help themselves. The meek are like Peter, Lord save me, I perish. Save me, I perish! The meek joined the publican who would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven but smile on his breast and cry, God, be merciful to me, the sinner! Oh, I wonder if there's a meek soul here tonight.

I'm telling you, Christ came to preach good tidings to the meek. Good tidings. Not good advice, good tidings. And the good tidings he preached were the tidings of redemption accomplished. grace given, mercy bestowed upon guilty sinners. There is in Jesus Christ mercy for the meek, grace for the guilty, and righteousness for the ruined. One last thing. We'll look at this a little more next week, Lord willing, but our Lord's object in preaching is so tenderly expressed here.

He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. They're broken hearted. Now preachers and commentaries and theologians wrangle and argue and fuss over what this phrase here broken hearted means. Well, it just means broken hearted. Broken hearted. Broken hearted because your heart won't break. Broken hearted because you can't defend. Broken hearted because your heart doesn't grieve like you know it should over your sin. Broken hearted because you have no deep, deep sense of sin and conviction like you know you ought to have.

Broken hearted because you know you can't keep God's law. Because you know you can't pray. Because you found all the cisterns of this world to be cracked, empty, broken cisterns. Broken hearted because your life is ruined and you've ruined it. Broken hearted because you have no peace and you can't find peace. Broken hearted because when you hear the word somehow you're just not moved by the word because when you had a little light you didn't walk in the light and now the light's been taken away and you're left in darkness. Broken hearted because your mind is overwhelmed with blasphemous thoughts. Broken hearted because you fear that you may have committed the unpardonable sin.

Now will you listen to me? Whatever it is that breaks your heart, whatever it is that breaks your heart, the Lord Jesus Christ came here in mercy to bind up the brokenhearted. And he still does. He still does. He whose heart was broken for sinners knows how to bind up broken-hearted sinners and heal them by His grace. Oh, may God give you grace now to bring your broken heart to Him that you may be healed forever by His free grace. Amen.