I did choose thee. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyberg. I've entitled this morning's
message, Broken. Broken. Any spiritual problems
that you and I have, if traced to their source, it would be
found to be this. We're not broken. We're not broken. Have you been broken by God? It's a good thing to be broken,
as we shall see. In Luke chapter 20, this is three
days before the crucifixion of Christ. And if you've been listening
the last few weeks, you've seen we've been in this time, this
last week of Christ on the earth. But the Lord is giving a parable,
and at the end of that parable, we read in verse 9, and the chief
priests and the scribes at the same hour sought to lay hands
on him, and they feared the people, for they perceived that he had
spaken this parable against them. and their perception was a correct
perception. He had indeed spoken this parable
against them. They had been trying to entrap
him in his words and now he speaks this parable against them. We read beginning in verse 9,
then began he to speak to the people this parable. A certain
man planted a vineyard, and if you look in Matthew's account,
he went to great trouble. He made a wine press, he built
a wall, he built a tower. This was some kind of production.
A certain man planted a vineyard and led it forth. He rented it
out to husbandmen and went into a far country for a long time. Now he made this vineyard and
he rented it out. And he expects to receive fruits
from it. That's why he rented out. He's
going to make them make a good living on it, but he's going
to have his profits because it's his vineyard. Verse 10, and at
the season he sent a servant to the husbandman that they should
give him of the fruit of the vineyard. But the husbandman
beat him and sent him away empty. This man comes to collect his
rent and they beat the man and send him away empty. How wicked,
how evil. Verse 11, and again he sent another
servant. Now this shows the graciousness
of this landowner. I wouldn't have sent another
servant. I would have sent the law to collect my money, but he sends
another servant. also, and entreated him shamefully,
and sent him away empty. And again he sent a third, and
they wounded him also, and cast him out." Now I think these three
men can represent Moses, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms,
the people God sent to preach the Gospel to Israel. Now what
a long-suffering this man represents God the Father, you know that,
that he would have this patience to send these men to collect
his fruits. Now, look in verse 13, then said
the Lord of the vineyard, what shall I do? I will send my beloved
son. It may be that they will reverence
him when they see him. Now what kindness. What long-suffering. He said,
I'm going to send my beloved son. They've beat these other
men. Well, I'm going to send them
my son. They'll hear him. What benevolence on the part
of this long-suffering landowner. Verse 14, But when the husbandmen
saw him, they saw the beloved perceived who he was. They reasoned
among themselves, saying, This is the heir. Come, let us kill
him, that the inheritance be ours. Now how desperately evil
these men were. There are three things I see
on the very surface of this parable, the desperate wickedness of man. Secondly, I see the amazing long-suffering
of God, sending these men, sending his own beloved son. And thirdly,
I see the fact that God expects fruit. He sent for fruit from
these men who had rented out his vineyard. Now, the Lord said,
you've not chosen me, but I've chosen you. and ordain you that
you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should
remain. Now, verse 15, so they cast him
out of the vineyard and killed him. This is how wicked these
men are, and you know that this is a picture of the gospel, the
father sending his son and men killing him. And this would actually
take place in just three days. And the Lord knew that. But he
spake this parable concerning them. Now, so they cast him out
of the vineyard and killed him. What therefore shall the Lord
of the vineyard do unto them? He shall come and destroy these
husbandmen and shall give the vineyard to others. That's what
he will do. He will come in with his armies,
destroy these wicked men, He's going to give you the vineyard
to others representing salvation to the Gentiles. It now wasn't
just for the Jews, it was now for the Gentiles. The Old Covenant
has ended. Now, verse 17, and when He beheld
them, He said, what is this then? Then that which is written. It's a quotation from Psalm 118,
22 and 23. Let me read it to you. Psalm 118, 22 and 23. The
stone which the builders refused. become the headstone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing and
it's marvelous in our eyes. And the Lord says to them, and
I love the way Matthew and Mark say it like this, have you never
read? I think that was a slam. Of course they'd read it, they
just didn't know what it meant. Have you never read? Have you never
read? What is this then that which
is written, the stone which the builders rejected, the become
the head of the corner. Whosoever shall fall upon that
stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall it will
grind him to powder." Now this is one of the most often quoted
scriptures in the New Testament. Peter said it to the was being
tried by in Acts chapter 4. He quotes it twice in 1 Peter
chapter 2. Paul uses this, other foundation
can no man lay than that which is laid, Christ Jesus the Lord. He's the foundation stone and
it's a rejected stone. The same which the builders refused,
the same as made of the head of the quarter, it's a rejected
stone. You see, The scribes and the Pharisees were looking for
a certain kind of Messiah that would put down Roman rule and
put them in the top position. They would be the ruling class.
And the Messiah that they were seeing didn't fit the one they
wanted, so they refused him. They refused him. However, the
one that the builders rejected God made him the headstone, the
capstone, the chief cornerstone. This is, like I said, a quotation
from Matthew's account, and Mark's account, and Luke's account from
Psalm 118, the stone which the builders refused. Now, what does
it mean to refuse the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, first of all, first
of all, you never refuse him until you see who he is. when
they saw him, when they perceived him. These people that our Lord
is speaking of in this parable, this is the way it is with the
natural man. If you ask your average person, ask the average
person, do you hate Jesus Christ? Well, no, no. Do you love him? Of course I do. That's because
they don't know who he is. It's when people find out who
he is is when they get mad. Now, you reject Him, you refuse
Him, you refuse to acknowledge Him when
you reject His absolute sovereignty. This stone is the absolute sovereign
of the universe. He controls everybody and everything.
You reject Him when you reject His atonement. You see, His atonement
atones. People don't reject an atonement
that doesn't atone, that they can add to and make it work.
But an atonement that atones is complete, effectual atonement
for the elect that actually accomplished their salvation. Men rise objections
to that. Or they object to so many things,
His Lordship, His glory and salvation. But He cannot be rejected. I mean you can reject Him, but
He's still the headstone. He's the head of the corner.
As a matter of fact we read in Isaiah chapter 8 verse 14, I
love this verse of Scripture, and He shall be for a sanctuary,
a place of safety. Oh, what a sanctuary the Lord
Jesus Christ is. The name of the Lord is a strong
tower. The righteous run into it and
are safe. Oh, what a hiding place He is. How secure. A sanctuary is a
place of safety, a holy place. And what a holy place He is.
And He shall be for a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling
and for a rock of offense. You see men are offended by the
Lord Jesus Christ. They are offended by His rule
over him. They are offended by His Lordship. They are offended
by His control. And they stumble over Him. And
that's what the Pharisees were doing at this time. They were
stumbling over Him. They refused to submit to Him. Now, back to our text in Luke
chapter 20 verse 17, And behold, and he beheld them, and said,
What is this then that which is written? The stone which the
builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner."
Christ is the headstone. He's the cornerstone. He's the
only foundation. He's the only way that a man
can be saved. Do you know in will have this in common, there's
only one reason why they're there, Him, the Headstone, the Head
of the Corner. Everybody in Heaven has that
in common, the only reason they're there is because of Him. And Matthew and Mark's account
both quote this, this is the Lord's doing. and it's marvelous
in our eyes. Whosoever shall fall upon this
stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it
will grind him to powder. Now notice it doesn't say, who
shall stumble over this stone shall be broken. Whosoever shall
fall upon this stone shall be broken." All the difference in
the world. There are a lot of men who stumble
at Christ, who are offended by Christ, and who aren't saved. But this is not speaking of that.
Whosoever shall fall upon this stone shall be broken. Now, the word fall here is a
participle. It acts both as a verb and an
adjective. It's what you do and it's what
you are. It's what you do, you fall. It's what you are, you're fallen
and you're broken. It means to descend from a higher
place to a lower place, to fall prostate before God. prostrate
before God. It's used of persons rendering
homage and worship. It's to be cast down. It's to
come to an end. The wise men fell down before
the babe on their faces and worshipped him that was born King of the
Jews. On the Mount of Transfiguration,
When they saw who the Lord Jesus Christ really was, they fell
on their faces, rendering religious homage to the God of glory, and
they trembled in fear. And this is what happens when
you see Him. You're broken. The leper fell
on his face and worshiped Him, saying, If you will, you can
make me clean." Now, this falling on his face was rendering him
worship. He knew something of the supremacy
of his will. Lord, if you will, it's totally
up to you. If you will, you can make me
clean. But you notice how these men
fell before the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if a man falls before Christ,
of this I'm dead sure, he's broken. He's seen who the Lord is. That's
why He's fallen. He's seen who the Lord is. Now,
remember this. This is an important axiom. The
way up in the Kingdom of Heaven is always down, down, falling
on your face at His feet, broken, broken. Now, if you're not broken,
there's one reason. You've never really seen Him.
I think of Isaiah in the year King Uzziah died, I saw also
the Lord high and lifted up. And what did he say as a result
of seeing the Lord? He said, woe is me, I am undone,
I'm a man of unclean lips, I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips, because mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. And that word broken, Like I
said, if you're broken, you're really broken, it means you're
shattered. You can't be fixed. Broken to pieces. Beyond repair. That's what broken means. You're
no good. You can't work. What do you do
with broken things? Throw them away. They're no good
anymore. They're useless. They can't be used. Broken. Broken. broken. Psalm 34 verse 18 tells us, The
Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth
such as be of a contrite spirit. In Psalm 51, David said, For
thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest
not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou will not despise. Do you know the one thing that
is at its best state when broken is the heart? Everything else,
when it's broke, thrown away, it's no good. But the heart is
at its best state when it's broken. Broken before God. Now, did you know that there
are only two kinds of hearts in the world? A broken heart
and an unbroken heart. Now, the unbroken heart is the
heart you're born with. The natural heart, the hard heart,
the stony heart. The broken heart is the heart
that has seen the Lord. And in seeing the Lord, it's
seen its own sinfulness and inability, and it's broken. It's broken
of all hopes of self-salvation, broken before the Lord. Now what is meant by the heart
when I talk about a broken heart and an unbroken heart? What does
the Bible mean by the heart? Well, the heart is the whole
man. The heart is the mind. The heart is the will. The heart
is the affections and the desires. Now, the unbroken heart, it thinks
it's in good shape. I'm okay. It's fine. And this is the same heart, though,
that Jeremiah said, the heart is deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked. Who can know it? You see, your
heart's deceived you into thinking everything's good. Everything's
fine. Everything's all right. The Lord said of this heart,
out of the heart proceedeth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies. These are the things
that defile a man, those things that come from the heart, from
the evil heart of unbelief, that hard stony heart. But to eat
with unwashing hands defiles not a man. I think of the heart
of Simon Magus when Peter said to him, thy heart is not right
in the sight of God, for thou thoughtest the gift of God could
be bought. You thought you could bargain with God. Your heart's
not right in the sight of God. You're yet in the bond of iniquity
and the gall of bitterness, he said to Simon Magus. Now, while
the natural heart is the one you're born with, this stony,
unbroken heart, the broken heart is what is given in the new birth.
The broken heart is given when someone sees who the Lord is. Job said, I've heard of thee
with the hearing of the ears. Now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore
I hate myself and repent in dust and ashes. It was a broken heart
that made Peter cry out when he saw who the Lord really was.
He said, depart from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man. You don't want
to have anything to do with somebody like me. Daniel said, when I
saw him, my comeliness turned to corruption. Now this broken
heart comes not just from negative self-image, it comes from seeing
who the Lord is. It's only as you see who the
Lord is that you'll see who you are. It's only as He gives you
a new heart that you'll see the fallen, wicked nature of that
old heart. Broken heart is the heart that
is given in regeneration. Now, what I'd like to do is give
you five marks of a broken heart. A heart that God has broken.
The same heart that God will not despise. That broken heart
that is the result of the sacrifices of God. That heart that God will
draw nigh to. Here are five marks of a truly
broken heart. And my dear friend, the best
thing that could ever happen to you is for God to break your
heart by a side of himself. And the best thing that could
ever happen to me is for God to break my heart and show me
my need of the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, truly broken heart,
broken before God. I know people can have different
kinds of broken hearts. Somebody's marriage breaks up,
it breaks their heart, and you understand that, and you appreciate
that, but that's not the broken heart we're talking about. A
broken heart before God, a heart broken by His grace, by His Spirit,
is a heart that's broken of self-righteousness. You really believe What Isaiah
said when he said, our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. We're all
as an unclean thing. You see the rottenness of your
righteousness. You've never seen sin as it really
is until you've seen the rottenness of your righteousness. Now, a
heart that God has broken sees very clearly by the grace of
God that its righteousness is no more than filthy rags. The only way I can be saved is
by the righteousness of somebody else. I can't be fixed. I'm beyond
repair. I have to have the very righteousness
of Christ as the only righteousness I have. Paul put it this way
in Philippians 3, 9, Oh, that I may win Christ and be found
in him, not having my own righteousness. I don't want to have anything
to do with that, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith. Now a broken heart is broken
of all sense of personal righteousness. broken heart is broken before
the preached Word." Now the preaching of the Gospel is the declaration
of what God has said in His Word. And a broken heart bows before
all God says in His Word. Any aspect of the Gospel that
is rejected, it's only rejected by an unbroken heart. A broken
heart bows before everything God says. When God says that
the heart is desperately wicked, deceitful above all things, the
broken heart says amen. When God says He chose who would
be saved before the foundation of the world and the salvation
of the Lord, the broken heart says amen. When Christ is exalted
as the only Savior and everything in salvation, He gets all the
glory, none goes to man, the broken heart says, Amen. The
broken heart bows before everything God says in His Word. And for
me to buck against anything God says would say that I am an unbroken,
proud heart. The broken heart bows before
all He says in His Word. Thirdly, broken heart is not
angered by God's providence. Now, an unbroken heart is bitter,
angry, how could God let this happen? How could God let that
happen? This isn't right. I deserve better than this. What
is going on? But a broken heart, like Eli,
Samuel says, God's going to kill your two sons. Eli says, it's
the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. Shemai's cursing David. Abishai
says, you want me to go take his head off? David said, no.
The Lord said, curse David. Everything God sends my way,
it doesn't mean I enjoy everything, but I know who's in control.
And everything he sends my way, I bow. And that's what a broken
heart does. It's best. It's right. If God
sent it, it's evidently what I needed. A broken heart bows
before the providence of God. Fourthly, a broken heart is broken
at the cross. Not at Mount Sinai, the giving
of the law, but at the cross. When we see what Christ actually
accomplished, when we see why He was there, what He was doing,
He was putting away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, satisfying
God, satisfying the justice of God, perfecting forever them
that are sanctified, when we see what He accomplished on Calvary's
tree, when we understand what He meant when He said, it is
finished, my salvation's finished, there's nothing for me to do,
that breaks the heart. That's where the heart's broken,
not at Sinai, not with laws and rules, but at the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's where the heart's broken.
And fifthly, a broken heart. broken in sympathy toward other
sinners. All the time. It's not hard-hearted
toward them and judgmental toward them. It knows it's just as bad. A broken heart is a heart that's
broken in sympathy with other sinners and wants them to hear
the Gospel as well. Now, the Lord says, Whosoever
shall fall upon this stone shall be broken, but whomsoever it
shall fall in judgment because it's unbroken it shall grind
in to powder. He will be judged eternally. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard send your request to messages at todsroadgracechurch.com
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