Man, brokenheartedness, right?

Um we live in a fallen world and it is a reality.

And I think, you know, uh like the word talks about, the the the heart could sorrow, right?

Even in laughter, um, even in cheer and joy that that appears to be that on the outside someone could be uh deeply brokenhearted.

We don't know what people are going through.

You know, and I that's where I get convicted, where I would get frustrated with someone or but man, just to stop and think, man, they could just be absolutely devastated by something, or even if it's not like maybe an event like that, just the lostness, you know, that that people who don't know the Lord experience daily.

Well, it should be a mentality on the part of the Christian to think that person's going through something terrible.

Yeah, because you can't ask them, they won't tell you.

Excuse me.

I know you're strange, but tell me what you're going through.

Tell me what's going on in your life.

Yeah, but but it is a reality, and we are in a broken world.

And I mean, all of us have experienced a broken heart to to some degree.

And you know, whatever it is, I mean, it's whether it's loss, betrayal, rejection, uh, death, disappointment, uh, it's a reality.

It's gonna come to all of us, first of all, right?

A broken heart.

And when you're brokenhearted, you don't need a cliche, you need Christ.

Right?

And then, but that's all the world has, or just little maxim-like sayings, just puns, cliches, uh, just keep a stiff upper lip, right?

When you come to the end of your rope, just tie a knot and hold on, right?

It's there's no meaning behind what the world would give you.

So we have to always rely upon scripture because our hope is found in Christ.

Our hope is Christ.

Uh, Christ is revealed inside of his word.

And when we come across verses like this, the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and he saves the crushed in spirit.

Or come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest, or casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you, or he'll wipe away every tear from your eye.

Those are not cliches.

This is something of great substance that you can hold on to, right?

If you're gonna go through the fire, you might as well dance, you might as realize and recognize that that Christ is with you.

And that is what gives us our greatest solace.

The issue and the problems that you're going through are designed by God to draw you closer to Him so that your roots do not grow deeper in this planet.

They don't grow down, but they grow up, that we become homesick for a home that we've never been to.

Right?

Piper, he said, our sorrows are not random, they are divine appointments.

Like you mentioned, Mark, the Lord is with you.

He draws nears to you, he cares about your suffering.

And soon will, I think, you know, I'd I'd want to turn it over to you guys, but I'd love to talk about what we can do in suffering and and truly what is the hope that we have in suffering?

Why is Jesus providing that hope?

Yeah.

I I would like to add something here, and uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but sometimes we can read all the verses about brokenheartedness and miss the spiritual nature of what scripture is actually saying.

Obviously, God heals the brokenhearted, he sympathizes with our trials that we go through, but blessed are the poor in spirit.

It's not particularly talking about people who lack finance, it's poor in spirit.

Blessed are those who are destitute of righteousness.

Now, I understand the spiritual poverty.

They are blessed because they'll come to God for his mercy.

Blessed are those who mourn.

That's not talking about someone who's lost a loved one, particularly, but for those for those who mourn over their own sins.

Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness.

Psalm 34, verse 18.

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart.

Finishes the verse.

And save such as have a contrite spirit.

That's a sorrow for sin.

So when you've got a broken heart, it should be you're coming to Jesus to have your sins washed away.

You're brokenhearted, you're mourning about your own sins.

Come to me, all you that labor and heavy laden with problems, and I'll give you rest.

Doesn't say that.

Come to me, all you that labor and heavy laden, I'll give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I'm meek and lowly of heart, and shall find rest to your souls.

And you see, pilgrim going up the hill of Calvary and he gets to the top with a burden on his back, that's the weight of his sins.

And when he looks to the cross, that's when the sin falls off.

He's no longer laboring and heavy laden.

We can look at those scriptures about brokenheartedness and not realize there is a deeper spiritual meaning to them.

Wow, that's that's so important to remember.

I think it's important to remember, too, that God, God is doing something with the pain.

So I want to talk to the sufferer for a second.

You know, I'm thinking about someone who's just lost a loved one, um, someone that's gone through a breakup, that's just found out they have cancer, that had affections for another person that were not returned to them.

There's moments in in real life where a saint is suffering, not necessarily for sin, but just experiencing the broken broken fallenness of this world.

And God is doing something with your pain.

There's this ancient story.

This is again credit to Makato Fuchimori for putting this out.

Uh, there's this ancient story in, I think it's in Japan, in which this king has this vase that he absolutely adores, and um, an accident happens and it breaks.

And for like 30, 40 years, he just keeps the broken vessel there on display because he can't bring himself to getting rid of it.

And one day an artist comes in, he sees the broken vessel, and he says, I can I can make it good.

And what he does, you would think like he would put it all back together and hide the cracks.

But this artist is known that he actually took gold particles and highlighted the cracks inside the vessel.

And this is the beginning of Kinsuji art.

Now to this day, Kinsuji art is something that like they add gold to highlight the brokenness of the vessel and it makes it better, more valuable, more beautiful.

Um, and you think of like you mentioned where does your hope lie?

You think of doubting Thomas that Jesus in his fully redeemed and glorified body still had wounds from nails.

You see, his glorified body didn't hide or ignore the pain that he went through, but the scars of the pain of suffering on behalf of our sin are still with his glorified body and are even a part of his glorified body.

And so, in that sense, your pain and suffering that you experience on this fallen planet in some way, shape, or form, in some mystery is a part of your glorified story that God is doing in and through you.

Amen.

You know, I I heard this just said the other day, and I've never thought about it that way, but someone was talking about the fact that Jesus will still, you know, still has his wounds into eternity.

And but they the way they put it was, and those wounds are more glorious because it's a glorified body.

You have never thought of it that way.

Like, wow, those wounds that represented violence and hatred and wickedness and the rebellion of man are now more glorious.

And you think of what they represent, our redemption, right?

Suffering clearly can make us more like Jesus in the sense that it can produce an empathy within us if we'll let it.

Suffering can we can either let it make make us better or let it produce empathy.

Look, I I would recommend to anyone listening right now who finds themselves in the realm of brokenheartedness and you're struggling with whether or not you should hang out with Christian brothers and sisters, whether or not you should go to that conference, whether or not you should even attend church service, right?

There's something in you that's saying, Well, I know we should we should be in in fellowship at church, but you know, but you're still struggling.

Don't even question it.

Don't even think about it.

Apply the Ray Comfort philosophy when it comes to evangelism.

I didn't even think about it.

Because you know you're gonna talk yourself out of it.

You already know it's right, you already know it it's it's good.

And again, do most what you feel like doing least.

And so that's key.

It's huge, it's it's massive.

You gotta do that.

And uh, and again, we just have to be reminded of the hope that we have.

Revelation 21:4.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.

There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.

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