Broken things

1st Corinthians chapter 11. I'm going to read all the scriptures I have in mind because you'll get the connection very quickly without any problem. 1st Corinthians chapter 11 and reading down at verse 23.

For I've received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he break it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me. Judges chapter 6. Judges chapter 6 verse 24. Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord and called it Jehovah Shalom.

Unto this day it is in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. And it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him take thy father's young bullock even the second bullock of seven years old and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath and cut down the grove that is by it and build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock in the ordered place and take the second bullock and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down. And of course that's what Gideon did.

Psalm 51. Psalm 51 and we'll read it verse 10. First of all David is praying create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me.

Now he says in verse 17 that the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart O God thou will not despise. Jeremiah chapter 18. Jeremiah chapter 18 and verse 1. The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying arise and go down to the potter's house there I will cause thee to hear my words.

Then I went down to the potter's house and behold he wrought a work on the wheels and the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter so he made it again. Another vessel has seemed good to the potter to make it. Now lastly in John's Gospel chapter 6. John chapter 6 and here we have the Lord Jesus feeding a multitude and at verse 12 it says when they were filled he said to unto his disciples gather up the fragments that remain that nothing be lost.

We live in a world of throw away. I know you get a part and it breaks and you ask at the place where they do repairs and they say can't do anything with it. Broken things, kind of useless.

Have you ever noticed that the most valuable things in Scripture are often broken things? We read in 1st Corinthians chapter 11 and there you have the greatest brokenness. The Lord Jesus symbolized on the cross and in that brokenness of the cross we have a priceless treasure. The reason that we're here this afternoon enjoying the Word of God is simply because of the brokenness of Calvary.

There is nothing more valuable than the brokenness of the cross. For all eternity we will celebrate the brokenness of the cross of Christ but that brokenness teaches us that broken things have value and I trust that when we leave this conference after having this weekend together that we will have some broken things in our lives that God will look down upon or other believers will look upon and they will say I am glad that in his life, her life, that brokenness came. It's possible that someone here came with an idol.

Judges chapter 6 there was an altar to a heathen God and here because of the exercise of Gideon, who had been sitting threshing wheat by the winepress, an altar is broken down and an altar is set up for God. Would it not be a great thing if some brother or sister had come here and there was something else in their vision and when they leave this conference they will say no longer will I serve that God, I am going to serve the living God, the true God and the altar is broken down and a life has changed and there is an altar to God and God gets first place. We would thank God if when this conference is over so soon that some believer here will have come to realize that what they've been worshiping maybe for a long time maybe for a shorter time it hasn't been worth it and they break down the altar and say for to me to live is Christ, Philippians chapter 1 and so we have in Judges 6 we have a broken altar.

Now when we come to Psalm 51 what we have is a broken spirit and a broken heart and none of us want that. I can remember one time in my life above all others when I was 16 years of age and my heart was broken in a way I would hope it would never be broken again. I will never forget that day and that night.

I wasn't one at that time to shed many tears but I can remember a whole night on my bed or from a time I went to bed till I got up in the morning it was shedding tears but that was a life-changing moment. Brethren, sisters, maybe that are some here today maybe though it doesn't show publicly your heart is breaking but I want to tell you as the Lord looks down and he sees your broken heart that is precious to him. There is a lot to break our hearts.

There are unexpected things, things that we really hope will never come into our experience but a broken heart is very precious to God. Broken hearts are special things but a broken spirit. Now I was on my knees this morning before I came to the hall in the bedroom where I'm staying.

As I was on my knees I was praying for a particular person that he would get a broken heart and a broken spirit because if he never does his life is going to be ruined. It's on the edge of ruin right now and I was on my knees praying, God give this man a broken heart. Give him a broken spirit.

And brothers and sisters, sometimes we need that before we can move forward, before our life has changed. If there's someone here today and you're going your own way, we trust that even in the last moments of this gathering or a reflection after the conference is over, God will give you a broken heart and a broken spirit and a new direction for your life. And maybe other believers will look on and if not, if it's a private thing, the Lord from heaven looking on will say, thank God for a broken heart and a broken spirit.

The Lord himself will take delight in that. Let your heart be broken if you've got a stubborn heart. We turn to Jeremiah chapter 18 and we have a broken vessel.

And the words I love in this passage is, he made it again. Maybe there's a brother or a sister here and you've had a tragedy in your life. You've gone astray, you've turned away from the Lord, you've got into things that you ought not to have got into, and maybe your life is still kind of shattered.

Take courage, because God is able to make you again. Wonderful thing to see recovery, and I don't know most of you here on a personal level, but if there's someone here today and you look back and you're ashamed of the past and you wish you could undo it, you wish you could get into a time machine and reset the clock and start over, well you can't. But the words to Jeremiah, where you go to the potter's house, you watch the potter work, and as he watched, the vessel was marred.

But he didn't throw it away, he didn't give up. He said, I'll make it again. And the Lord says, I can do what that potter did with the house of Israel.

My brother, my sister, God can do with you a broken vessel what God did or will do with the nation of Israel. He can make you again. There are times when believers get to the point where they feel so lost that they have completely given up hope, so hopeless that they don't even want to try.

That's what the concern was of the Apostle Paul, you remember, 2nd Corinthians, lest he be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. There can be a sorrow that is unto death that makes a person feel like, I'm never going to try again. What is the point? I had a dream about a person just recently who's gotten away from the Lord and didn't know what to do about it.

But I saw myself enjoying fellowship with this person again, and I decided I would send the person an email. And I sent the person an email, and I said, brother, I had a dream about you and me together again, enjoying the Lord. And he did email me back, and he said, brother, pray that the dream will come true.

What about in your life and mine? God can make us again. John chapter 6, the Lord Jesus said, gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Maybe as you look at your life, maybe there's someone here, you look at your life, and it seems like there's pieces scattered all over.

And you think, how is it possible that anybody can put it back together? Well, what we have is the blessed words of the Lord Jesus. He said, gather up the fragments that nothing be lost. I think again of Joel chapter 2. I was reading it one day, what you would say by accident.

I was feeling discouraged. I don't often get discouraged, but I was feeling discouraged, and I just got my Bible, and I opened it and didn't know where to read. I wasn't thinking about anything, and I just began to flip the pages and wondered where I should read, didn't know what to read, and I just put my Bible down and let it sit on the table, and I looked down at it, and I was thinking of wasted time when I was flipping through my Bible, and I looked down at Joel chapter 2, and it said, I will restore unto you the years that the locusts have eaten.

Brothers and sisters, God is able to take the broken fragments of our life, and he is able to gather them up so that nothing is lost. And so maybe there's a discouraged believer here today. Don't go away discouraged.

Remember that what you and I can never do, God can do. Psalm 23, he, not ourselves, he restoreth my soul. And I hope in some measure every one of us will go away restored, encouraged, taking heart, ready, no matter what the past has been, to make a fresh start.

God is able to do that. He's able to gather up the fragments, the wasted time, the broken dreams, the mistakes, and he's able to gather it all and repiece it, and he is able to gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing is lost. There is value in broken things, whether it is a broken altar, or a broken heart, or a broken vessel, or pieces that have been broken and scattered, we can trust God as we leave this conference to take the broken things and make them the most precious we've ever experienced.