John Bunyan, in one of his books, says that there are six reasons why God loves sinners who are broken-hearted because of their sins.
The first reason is mentioned by David in Psalm 51:16-17 when he says to God: ’For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.’ David is not suggesting that God did not approve of those rituals – after all, he had given instructions about them. Indeed, the burnt offering was an expression of total dedication. Yet there was something that pleased God more – a broken and a contrite heart.
Today we are not required to keep those Old Testament rituals. Nevertheless, there are numerous commandments that are obligatory on God’s people. It is important to know what they are in order to practice them. Yet there will always be one reality about our response to God’s commands. We will never, in this world, keep any of them perfectly. What is our reaction to that inevitability?
Perhaps we might merely accept the fact and carry on keeping God’s requirements. Or maybe we might aim to do better, improve in those areas. Or we might confess the failure and leave it there, thankful that we are pardoned. What more would God want? He would like to see a broken and a contrite heart.
If we know the context of Psalm 51, we are aware that the background includes two terrible sins by David. We could then assume that only people like him would have this response. Yet David does not say that. Instead he realised that God values all sinners who have a broken and a contrite heart.
Jesus taught his disciples, ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.’ There are many reasons for spiritual mourning, and one of them is the presence of sin in our hearts and lives. But mourning has a silver lining because such will receive heavenly comforts.
The second reason why Bunyan thinks it is good to be brokenhearted for sin is found in Isaiah 46:1-2: ‘Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”’
How much does God possess? One way of answering that question would be to say that he possesses heaven and earth. That certainly is a large possession and it is full of amazing things. No doubt, it all means a great deal to the Lord because he created it. When he made the earth, and all in and on it, he looked at it and said it was very good. All was perfect then, of course. What does he like to see when he looks out on his creation today? He tells us where he delights to gaze: at each person ‘who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.’
As Bunyan pointed out, the creation is temporary in its current form. In that sense, it does not give longterm delight to the Lord. Yet one group of people do, and although they will not always be in their current condition of sinfulness, their reaction to their sin gives more delight to God than he finds elsewhere on the earth. Bunyan reminds his readers of how Jesus, in the Song of Solomon, is ravished by the eyes of his people. In that song, they have dove’s eyes, and doves often mourn. Jesus considers as beautiful his penitent people.
Moreover, the verse from Isaiah is a divine declaration of a constant commitment by the Lord. Looking by God involves more than considering; it also includes protecting. Since God’s eyes are on his people all the time, then they are safe. His eyes are on them to do them good, both in this life and in the next. It is as if he was saying, ‘If those mournful people knew the good that I have in mind for them, they would be amazed.’
They come to his Word trembling because of what they might find in it. Will there be a line that suddenly says they have sinned too much and can no longer be forgiven? There are warnings that should cause serious thought. But there are no threats made against those who are brokenhearted over their sins. Instead, they are God’s jewels whom he is polishing so that one day they will be brighter than the sun.
The third reason given by Bunyan as to why it is very good to be brokenhearted over sin is a verse found in Isaiah 57:15: ‘For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”’
We hear a lot today about people having two or more homes. This verse tells us that God has two homes. One is very high and the other is very low. One is holy and the other is imperfect. Yet he delights to dwell in both simultaneously. Why? Because the conversations and attitudes in both locations please him greatly. And when God is pleased, it must be real pleasure because he alone knows how to define it in an ultimate sense.
From one point of view, God does not require anything to exist outside of himself because he is entirely self-sufficient. Both heaven and earth are small in comparison to eternity. At one time, they did not exist, but he did. In his boundless love and wisdom, he has chosen to make creatures with whom he can relate with delight. Those creatures today are found in heaven and on earth.
It is amazing and incredible for a brokenhearted sinner to know that he can have a holy companion. How extraordinary it would be if Gabriel was to live with us for a fortnight! Yet, even if he did, he would never know the depths of our sins. But God’s dwelling with his people is not limited to a fortnight and he has full knowledge of who we are. Although we are the ones who are the brokenhearted, God knows more about the cause of our sadness than we do.
It is possible for someone to be in our house and not be at home. Someone passing through on bed and breakfast is like that. But that is not how God comes to stay. He delights to live in the hearts he has broken through the gracious workings of his Spirit as he convicts them of their sins and leads them to experience his mercy at the cross of Jesus. As Bunyan says, ‘There is also room in this man’s house, in this man’s heart, in this man’s spirit, for God to dwell, for God to walk, for God to set up a kingdom.’ What an amazing expression of the loving-kindness of the Lord!
Bunyan’s fourth blessing is also found in Isaiah 57:15, which is what God does when he comes to live with his brokenhearted people: he comes ‘to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.’
Why do believers need to be revived? After all, they are spiritually alive. Yet their sins make them faint, can cause them to have fears, can lead them to forget the divine promises, can bring disappointments. Friends may counsel, and although their words are fine, they may have no power.
God is an unusual physician because often he comes to heal the wounds that he has caused in a believer’s heart. True, the believer sins and those sins can cause God to withdraw himself. The believer longs for him to return with reviving grace. And God has such grace in abundance. Indeed, he designs his gracious restoration to suit each of them individually. As the great Physician, he can deal with all of them individually and simultaneously.
Another believer may see another Christian sad and may venture to help him. His involvement may help, but it may not. After all, he does not know the depth of his friend’s heart. Only God truly does, and he also knows how to administer the medicine, and when.
The heavenly Reviver delights in providing his restoring cure. Each dose is an expression of his love and is effectual in their souls. He wounded them in order for them to desire his gracious provisions and they discover that his restoration leads them to experience again the comforts of the green pastures and the still waters of his mercy.
The fifth blessing that Bunyan found in connection with having a broken heart for sin is linked to the intention the Father had when he sent his Son into the world. In that divine intention were many features and one was concerned with those affected with such a broken heart.
In Isaiah 61:1, the mission of Jesus is described: ‘The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.’ Jesus informed the people of Nazareth that he had come to fulfil that prophecy (Luke 4:16-18).
Bunyan was astonished at this expression of divine grace: ‘But that God, the high God, the God against whom we have sinned, should so soon as he has smitten, give his Son a command, a charge, a commission to take care of, to bind up, and heal the broken in heart, —this is that which can never be sufficiently admired or wondered at by men or angels.’
In addition to being amazed by the intention of the Father, we should be amazed by the faithfulness of the Son in fulfilling it. Think of how he healed the broken heart of the woman whom the Pharisees wanted to stone for her sins; how he healed the broken heart of the woman of Sidon concerned about her daughter; how he healed the broken heart of the widow from Nain; how he healed the broken heart of Peter after he denied his Master. And many more.
It would have been very encouraging if God had made an angel responsible for this role. He has given the task to his Son to complete, which is much more encouraging. Jesus knows how to heal the hearts of sinners. This is what he did on earth and it is what he does from heaven. Is this not what he was doing when he gave promises to the needy in the seven churches described in Revelation 2 and 3? And he makes the same promises to all with a heart broken for sin.
Bunyan’s sixth reason for saying that it is good to have a broken heart for sin is found in Psalm 34:18: ‘The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.’
What does it mean to be saved? As we know, salvation occurs in different ways. Bunyan mentions three aspects. The first is forgiveness. It is impossible to be saved without being pardoned by God. This happens when we trust in Jesus for the first time. At that moment, God justified us, and his act of justification includes full pardon of our sins.
The second aspect of salvation is preservation, which occurs throughout the life of every believer. As Bunyan points out, God delivers us from ‘temptations, snares, and destructions that would, were we not kept, were we not preserved of God, destroy us, body and soul, for ever.’ God is ensuring that each of his people will make it safely through this world.
The third aspect of salvation is glory which occurs in heaven and transforms our body and soul. There we will ‘dwell in the presence of this good God, and the Lord Jesus, and to sing to them the songs of his redemption for ever and ever.’ In this way the salvation of the broken hearted is completed. As Bunyan said, ‘this is excellent.’
Sometimes, those who are brokenhearted find it hard to believe that this will yet happen. They imagine that their sense of sin condemns them. The reality is that they understand the nature of their disease. In fact, it is a great blessing. As Bunyan pointed out, God ‘breaketh the heart of every son whom he receiveth; and woe be to him whose heart God breaketh not.’
Unlike earthly sorrows, believers know what will happen to those who are brokenhearted for their sins. They will experience full salvation.
