Tonight I'm preaching from Romans
chapter 13, verse 11, where Paul says, knowing the time that now
it's high time to awake out of sleep. For now is our salvation
nearer than when we believed. And I've entitled the message
for tonight, A Free Grace Reason to Wake Up. And we're also going
to observe the Lord's table tonight. Now would you turn back to Luke
Chapter 20. Let me read verse 18 once again. Whosoever shall fall upon that
stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it
will grind him to powder." I've entitled this message, Broken. Broken. Any spiritual problems
you and I have, if traced to their source, it would be this,
an unbroken heart. Now let me repeat that. I want
you to meditate upon it. Any spiritual problem you and
I have, if traced to its source, would be found to be an unbroken
heart. In verse 9 of our text, then
began he to speak to the people this parable. A certain man planted a vineyard and left it forth to husbandmen,
let it forth, he rented it out to husbandmen, farmers, and went
into a far country for a long time. Look in Matthew chapter
21 for just a moment and we see what kind of detail he gives
to Look how much care the husbandman gave in verse 33. Here's the
Lord Matthew's account of the same parable. Verse 33, here
another parable. There was a certain householder
which planted a vineyard. And look what all he did. He
hedged it round about and digged a winepress in it and built a
tower and led it out to husbandman and went into a far country. Now, upon completion of this
construction project, he leased this to these men so they could
make a living off of it. And of course he would receive
some of the profits and he went off into a far country. Now let's
read in verse 10. And at the season, when the time
that the fruits were ripe and ready to be harvested, 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. How evil. How evil. Now, before we go on reading,
what would you have done if you owned that vineyard? Well, I
know what I would have done. I would have got the law, I would
have got the authorities, and I would send them to have those
people punished. And I would get my fruits, and I'd kick them
out. That's what I would have done.
That's what you would have done. You know it. This was an act
of great dishonesty on their part, but what does the owner
of the vineyard do? Verse 11, and again, he sent
another servant. I wouldn't have done that. Oh,
the long-suffering and the patience of this owner of the vineyard. He sent another servant. And
they beat him also, and treated him shamefully, and sent him
away empty." Now, once bitten, twice shy. After this happens
a second time, I would hire me an army, and I'd go have these
fellows taken care of. And you would too. But what does
he do? Verse 12, and again he sent a
third. And they wounded him also, and
cast him out. Now this was a wicked bunch of
people. Dishonest. Thiefs. Here the owner had been
so gracious to them and so long-suffering to them, he sends three different
people. And they beat him up and cast
him out. Now, what he does next is unparalleled. 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 you know that this typifies
the father sending his son. The men that came before were
the prophets. It was Israel's response to the
prophets. They beat them, kicked them out, and now the father
says, I'll send my beloved son. Now would you send your son to
this bunch? Think about it. How they treated the prophets. Would you send your son to this
bunch? Of course you wouldn't. You might send an army and have
them punished and get what is rightfully coming to you, but
you wouldn't send your son to this bunch because you know what
they would do. Again, the amazing long-suffering
of the landowner. Verse 14, But when the husbandmen saw him,
they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir Come,
let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. So they cast him
out of the vineyard and killed him. Now, there are three things
I see on the very surface of this parable. Number one, the
desperate wickedness of men. Everything about this is horrendous. And beloved, this is a picture
of what you and I are. This is the cry of our heart,
naturally. This is the air, let us kill it. We'll not have this
man to reign over us. This demonstrates the desperate
sinfulness and wickedness of all men by nature. But secondly,
it shows us the amazing long-suffering and patience of God Himself.
None of us would have done this. He sent one servant. He sent
another servant. He sent another servant after
they beat them. He sent his beloved son to this
group of people. None of us would do anything
like that. Oh, the long-suffering of God, the patience of God,
the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation, the scripture says. And the third thing that I would
notice about this parable is God demands fruit. This man had a reason for sending
these servants and sending his son, and it was for fruit. The Lord said in John 15, 16,
you've not chosen me, but I've chosen you, and I've ordained
you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that fruit should
remain. Now, back to verse 15. What therefore shall the Lord
of the vineyard do unto them? He shall come and destroy these
husbandmen. Now, if there's ever anybody
that deserved to be destroyed, it's these husbandmen. I mean,
what they did is unparalleled in their wickedness toward this
landowner who was so good to them. So it's time for action. He shall come and destroy these
husbandmen and shall give the vineyard to others. And when
they heard it, they said, God forbid, God forbid that anything
like this happened. This is so horrible. Verse 17. I love Matthew's account. It
says he beheld them, but in Matthew's account, he said, have you never
read? I love the way he said this to the Pharisees. Have you
never read? Of course they had, but they didn't know the meaning
of anything. They had the scriptures memorized,
but they had no idea what they meant. And he says to them, have
you never read? And he quotes this passage from
Psalm 118, verse 22. And he beheld them and said,
what is this in that which is written? The stone which the
builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner. Whosoever shall fall upon that
stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it
will ground him to powder. Now actually, this is one of
the most often quoted verses from Psalm 118 in all of the
scriptures. It's quoted six times in the
New Testament. The stone which the builders
disallowed or rejected, the same as made the head of the quarter. Peter quotes it. Look at Acts
chapter 4. Acts chapter 4. This is when he was
after he'd been arrested and he's speaking to the Sanhedrin.
Acts chapter 4. Verse 7, And when they had set
them in the midst, they asked, By what power or by what name
have you done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy
Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and the elders
of Israel, If we this day be examined of the good deed done
to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole, be it
known unto you, and to all the people of Israel, that by the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God
raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here
before you, this is that stone which was set at naught of you
builders, which has become the head of the corner." Look in
1 Peter chapter 2, verse 4, to whom coming, and
that's the description of the life of the believer, he's always
coming to Christ, to whom coming as into a living stone, disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious You also, as
lively stones, are built up a spiritual house and a holy priesthood,
to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable unto God by Jesus
Christ. Wherefore also it is contained
in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded. Unto you therefore which believe, he is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
The stone which the builders disallowed, here he is quoting
it again, the same is made the head of the corner, and the stone
of stumbling, and the rock of a fence, even to them which stumble
at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. Somebody says, what's that mean?
Just what it says. Just what it says. I have no
need to apologize for what God says in his word. He says they
were appointed to this end. God is in absolute control of
everything. Paul said in Ephesians 2.20 that
Jesus Christ himself is the chief cornerstone. Now what's a cornerstone?
What's a cornerstone? That one who the builders rejected,
the same has made the chief cornerstone. A cornerstone is the most important
stone in the building. It's the foundation stone. It's
put in the corner. It's where the two walls come
together. It's the most important stone in the building. And the
Pharisees, the rulers, the chief priests and scribes looked over
this stone and they said, we don't like this stone. We want
another stone. This stone doesn't fit with our
agenda. So they rejected this stone. Look in verse 14 of Luke chapter
20, go back to our text. But when the husbandman saw him, the beloved son comes, and when
the husbandman saw him, and this means more than a physical sight.
They understood who He was. This is the heir. This is the
one who's keeping us from getting what we want. Now, men, and I may be speaking
to you right now, men don't know that they hate Jesus Christ until
they find out who He is. If you would ask them if they
hate Christ, they'd say, no, I love Christ. I love Christ. And they find out who he is according
to the scriptures. The absolute sovereign of the
universe. The one who is in control of
everything and everybody. The one where I'm in his hand,
he's not in mine. And he can do with me whatever
he's pleased to do. He can save me or he can pass
me by and send me to hell. Whatever he does is right. He's
in absolute control of all things. Now when people hear about Jesus
Christ, they say, I don't love him. I don't believe that. Now that's rejecting the stone.
Anything we reject of him, if I reject his absolute sovereignty,
I'm rejecting the stone. I'm disallowing the stone. I'm
disapproving of the stone. If I reject his absolute power
over all things and try to promote man's free will and man's ability,
I'm rejecting his sovereignty. If I reject his perfect effectual
redemption, the fact that he actually accomplished salvation,
I'm rejecting him. They were rejecting the stone.
They didn't like what the Bible said about the stone, so they
reject him. Now, turn with me to Psalm 118. This is where that quotation
comes from. Psalm 118. Verse 22, The stone which the builders
refused is become the headstone of the corner. And look what
else David says, and Matthew and Mark both quote this verse
too. Luke didn't for some reason, but look what they say after
this. This is the Lord's doing. The men's rejection of the stone,
this is the Lord's doing. The fact that God has made him
the headstone, this is the Lord's doing. Everything is the Lord's
doing. And what's he say next? And it's
marvelous in our eyes. Whatever the Lord's doing is,
indeed it is marvelous in our eyes. Now these fellas didn't
think that. They reject the headstone. Now throughout the scripture,
the Lord is presented as a stone. Turn with me to Isaiah 8. I want
you to see all these scriptures. Isaiah chapter 8. Verse 14, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ,
verse 14, and he shall be for a sanctuary. Now what's a sanctuary? It's a place of safety. It's
a place of holiness. He shall be for a sanctuary,
a place of safety, a place for hiding, but for a stone of stumbling
and for a rock of offense, both to the houses of Israel, for
a djinn, and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem." Now,
you're going to find Christ one of these two things. You're going
to find Him a sanctuary, a hiding place, a place of safety, a place
of security, a place of pleasure, or you're going to find Him to
be a stumbling stone. You're going to stumble over
Him, and you're going to be offended by Him. I think of what the Lord
said to those fellows in John chapter 6. They said, after they
heard His message, these are hard sayings. Who can hear them? Who can be expected to listen
to such teaching as this? And in that chapter, He brought
forth clearly the doctrine of grace. He brought out man's total
depravity. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me draw him. He brought out God's
unconditional election. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. He brought out Christ, his own
effectual redemption. This is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me I'd lose nothing,
but raise it up again at the last day. He brought that irresistible
grace. Every man that hath heard and
learned of the Father cometh to me. He brought out perseverance. I give unto my sheep eternal
life. Not temporary, but eternal. And when they heard this, they
said, this is a harsh saying. Who can hear it? They were offended. The Lord said, does this offend
you? And he looked at them and said, that's why I told you no
man can come to me except the Father would send me drawing.
From that time, many of his disciples went back and want no more with
him. They were offended. But some weren't. He looked at
the 12. He said, will you also go away?
They said, to whom shall we go? There's nowhere else to go. Look
in Isaiah chapter 26, or 28, I'm sorry, Isaiah 28. Beginning in verse 14 of Isaiah
chapter 28. Wherefore, hear the word of the
Lord, ye scornful men, that rule the people which is in Jerusalem,
because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, with
hellward agreement. When the overflowing skirts are
passed through, it shall not come nigh unto us. We are safe,
we are sound, we have made our decision, everything is okay
with us. We have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have
we hid ourselves. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried
stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth
in him shall not make haste. Now turn back to Luke chapter
20. Let's read verse 18. Remember, I've
entitled this message, Broken. broken. Whosoever shall fall upon that
stone, that tried stone, that sure stone, that corner stone,
that head stone, which is the Lord's doing, and it's marvelous
in our eyes, whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be
broken. Now notice they don't stumble
at this stone. They fall. They fall on that
stone. There's an infinite difference
between stumbling and falling. Whosoever shall fall upon that
stone. As a matter of fact, that word fall, it's a verb and it's
a participle. I always love to see participles
because it acts both as a verb and an adjective. This is what
these people do. They fall. This is what these
people are. They're fallen. Whosoever shall
fall upon that stone. And the word means to descend
from a higher place to a lower place. Have you done that? It means
to fall prostrate before. It's used of persons rendering
homage and worship. It means to be cast down. It
means to come to an end. You know, when the wise men saw
the child Jesus, the Scripture says they fell on their face. They fell down before Him. On the transfiguration, when
the disciples finally saw who he was, the scripture says they
fell on their face in fear. The leper fell on his face and
he worshipped him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me
clean. Now listen to these words real
carefully. The way up in the kingdom of
heaven is always down. You believe that? It's so. The way up in the kingdom
of heaven is always down. You ever see him? You'll fall
at his feet and you'll be broken. And if you're not broken, if
I'm not broken, there's only one reason. We've never seen
him. If you ever see him, you will
be broken. Now if a man falls before Christ
of this, I'm dead sure he will be broken. Now, what's it mean
to be broken? If you're broken, that means
you don't work. You can't work. You're broken. You're useless. You can't do anything to save
yourself. What do you do with broken stuff? Well, broken stuff,
you throw them away. They don't work. They're useless.
Now, if I ever see who Christ is, I will be broken before Him. And if I'm not broken, it's simply
because I have never seen him. Now this word broken, it means
shattered, beyond repair. It cannot be fixed. Psalm 34, 18 says, the Lord is
nigh unto them of a broken heart. and saveth such as be of a contrite
spirit. Turn with me to Psalm 51. I'm
sure some of you thought about this passage of scripture. Psalm
51. David, and this is his great
prayer of repentance after Nathan had come into him. He says in
verse 16, 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 contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise. Do you know that the heart is
at its best state? when it's broken. Broken before
God. We throw away broken things because
they don't work. They're no good. But oh, that
broken heart. Now, did you know there are only
two kinds of hearts in this world? There are unbroken hearts and
there are broken hearts. The unbroken heart is the natural
heart. It's the heart that you and I
were born with. Now before we try to consider
what a broken heart is and what an unbroken heart is, first of
all, what's a heart? You know it's not the muscle that pumps
the blood. In the scripture, the heart refers to the whole
man. The understanding, the affections,
and the will. That's the heart. It's the whole
man. It's the understanding, it's the affections, it's what
I love, it's what I hate, it's the will, it's what I choose,
what I desire, what I want. Now the heart of the natural
man is unbroken. The one of which Jeremiah said
the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked
Who can know it? Would that describe your heart?
No? Well, then your heart is not
broken. Because if you have a broken heart, you know that that's a
description of your heart. And if you can't see that, it's
because you've never seen Him. Because if you ever see Him,
you're going to know that's your problem. A desperately wicked
heart that's deceitful, above all things. One that's so bad
that you can't even know it, you can't even see into its depths. The natural heart, the unbroken
heart, is the one of which the Lord said, out of the heart proceedeth
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses,
blasphemies. These are the things that defile
a man, but to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man. The natural heart is the heart
that Simon Magus had when Peter said to him, thy heart is not
right before God. Thou thoughtest the gift of God
could be bought. If you think that there's anything
you can do to buy anything from God and pay for it, your heart's
not right in the sight of God. You're yet in the gall of bitterness
and the bond of iniquity. It's called the evil heart of
unbelief, a hard heart, a stony heart. And that's the unbroken
heart. It's the heart you were born
with. It's the heart of the natural man. A heart with no love to
God. Now while the natural heart is the one you're born with,
the broken heart is the new heart he gives in the new birth. Now it comes from seeing God. When Isaiah saw the Lord high
and lifted up, What did he say about himself? He said, I'm undone. I'm a man
of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts. Job said, I've heard of thee
with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee,
wherefore I hate myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Now
if my heart's unbroken, it's because I've never seen him.
I don't know what it is I've seen, but I've never seen him. When Peter found out who he really
was, he said, depart from me, Lord. You don't want to have
anything to do with somebody like me. I am a sinful man. Now let me give you five marks
of a broken heart. And you can know whether or not
your heart has been broken by listening to these five marks.
This is what I'm going to close with. But I want your careful
attention. as we consider these five marks
of a broken heart. Now a broken heart is a saved
heart. A broken heart is the heart given in the new birth.
What are the marks of a truly broken heart? Well, number one,
a broken heart is a heart that is broken of self-righteousness. It really believes it has no
personal righteousness before God. We just read that passage
of scripture that Don read in Isaiah chapter 64, 6. Our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. Do you believe that about your
righteousnesses? Do you really believe that? I don't mean just
because you've been taught it. But you really believe that about
yourself. You really believe that there's no way you can save
yourself. Your cry really is, O wretched
man, that I am. I know that in me that is in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Now, a broken heart is broken
of personal righteousness. You really believe that you personally
do not have any. You're nothing but sin in and
of yourself before God. That's not just negative thinking.
That's the truth. That's just not a grim outlook
on things. That's the truth regarding yourself. Your righteousness
is as filthy rags. Secondly, A broken heart, first
of all, is broke of self-righteousness, but secondly, a broken heart
is broken before the preached Word. Now, what do I mean by
that? A broken heart is broken before
the preached Word. A broken heart is not offended
by any aspect of the Gospel. I don't care what it is. When
a broken heart hears the gospel, he's not offended, he doesn't
get mad, he bows. And if I get mad at any aspect
of the gospel, I don't care if it's God electing a people, Christ
dying only for the elect, God's grace being invincible, the absolute
necessity for obedience, whatever, It is. If I'm offended by it,
my heart is proud and unbroken. An unbroken heart bows before
the truth of the gospel. It is broken before the preached
word. Thirdly, listen to this carefully. A broken heart, a broken heart
is not angered by God's providence. Whatever he does is right. Like Eli, when the prophet comes
to him, Samuel, and says, God's going to kill your two sons.
What was Eli's reply? It's the Lord. Let him do what
seemeth him good. Now, if you're brokenhearted, You know that whatever God does
is right. And you really believe that it's
for your good anyway, even though you might not like going through
it. It might be very difficult. It might be very trying. But
if you're brokenhearted, you know God is in control of it.
And it's for your good. And you don't find fault with
God's providence because you don't find fault with God. He's
right. I'm wrong. Amen? He's right. I'm wrong. And whatever he does is right,
just, holy, and good. And if I find fault with his
prophets, all I demonstrate by that is my heart is unbroken
before God. Fourthly, an unbroken heart breaks, not
at Mount Sinai. Not before hearing of God's requirements
and His holy law and what all you need to do. That never breaks
a heart. All it does is harden it. The
broken heart is broken, not at Mount Sinai, but at Mount Calvary. There the broken heart sees that
salvation has nothing to do with my works, and it has wholly to
do with his works. I see that he did it all, and
that's what breaks the heart. If that doesn't break your heart,
you've got an unbroken heart. The broken heart breaks at the
sight of what Christ accomplished, who He is, what He did, where
He is now. It breaks with the gospel. And this is what causes you to
not want to sin. Not Sinai, but Calvary. What Christ accomplished for
you. You see, when you're broken heart, you see that there's absolutely
nothing you can do. You're convinced of that. But
not only do you see there's nothing you can do, you see that He did
it all and that you are complete in Him. Now a broken heart, a broken
heart's broken of all hopes of self-salvation and personal righteousness. A broken heart bows to every
aspect of the gospel. It's all good. I believe it all. A broken heart justifies God
in all he does in his providence. A broken heart breaks at the
preaching of the cross. And a broken heart is sympathetic
with all other broken hearts. It always is. You see someone
with a broken heart, broken over themselves, broken at the cross,
oh, you feel such sympathy and love for that person. It's called
the love of the brethren. A broken heart is truly sympathetic
and loving towards all other broken hearts. Now, the Lord
said, who so falls on this stone The Lord Jesus Christ. He'll
be broken. Broken. But look at the last
part of this verse. If my heart remains unbroken. What's it say in verse 18? Whosoever
shall fall upon that stone shall be broken. And that's a good
place to be. Listen, if you're broken and can't be fixed, you're
a candidate for mercy. That's the only kind of people
Christ saves. He doesn't save anybody else. But, on whomsoever it shall fall
in judgment, it will grind him to powder. Now understand this. If you're not broken, you will
be ground to powder. And Christ will do it. He's the
Savior, yes, He's the Savior for every broken sinner and He's
also the one who's going to grind to powder everyone who's not
broken by Him. May the Lord give us all the
grace to be broken. That's a good place to be. Let's
pray together. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you will break these hearts of stone and give us the grace to be truly
broken before you. Lord, give us the grace to be
broken of all sense of personal righteousness and face the truth
of your holiness and our own sinfulness. And Lord, give us
the brokenness that receives all of your gospel and is not
offended by any of it. Give us this brokenness before
your providence where we know that whatever you do is good.
And Lord, enable us to trust you for what we can't see, knowing
that you're in control. Lord, cause us to be broken at
thy gospel, at the cross of thy Son. And Lord, cause us to be
truly sympathetic with other brokenhearted sinners. Lord,
make us, cause us by your irresistible, invincible grace cause us to
be broken before you, because you've told us in your word a
broken and a contrite heart thou wilt not despise. It's the sacrifices
of God. Bless this message for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
We've got one. 118. That's a great one. We'll
stand and sing.