A Pitiful Bunch Mt. 11:28

In our text, one might be troubled by the pitiful bunch Christ invites to come to Him. These are pictured as working for something they have not yet achieved, and overwhelmed with that which they cannot find relief. There is no satisfaction nor contentment here.

Now one might expect Christ to invite world leaders, deep thinkers, problem solvers, the successful or the famous into His kingdom. Just think how they might advance the cause of Christ! To the contrary, I Cor. 1:18-31 tells us that Christ's tool chest has non of the worlds wisdom and sufficiency in it.

Christ invites those who see their need of Him. As the song writer says, "All the fitness He requireth is to see your need of Him" One never trusts Christ without a need, nor does he repent apart from a view of his hopeless state without forgiveness.

All who truly come to the Savior are poor and needy sinners, heavy laden with sin, guilt, doubt, fears and the cares of this life. In spite of all their labors, they can find no peace, but alas, they hear the sweetest words, "Come unto me,----and I will give you rest" They simply believe these words, trust Christ for their longings, and rest in His merit. They are no longer restless, no longer pitiful.

Spiritual Healing Psalms 147:1-11

This Psalm is interesting and informative in that it calls for praise based on what God has done for His people. Here He has delivered Israel from the clutches of their enemies and healed the wounds of a nation. In this we see God’s care for His people of any time period and man’s ongoing need for spiritual healing. In this Psalm God becomes the Great Physician for the broken hearted. The broken heart is a picture of the poor hopeless sinner who has come to see his sin and helpless condition.

All God’s redeemed can relate to a broken heart. No man has ever come to Christ without seeing himself as God sees him, helpless and broken in his sin. When the spirit moves, the sinner’s heart is overwhelmed. (Psalms 77:3; Proverbs 15:13; 17:22) Many in the Bible had this experience: Mary Magdalene (Luke 7:38), the Psalmist (Psalms 116:3), Daniel (Daniel 9:5), Ezra (Ezra 9:6), Isaiah (Isaiah 6:5), Peter (Luke 5:8), and the publican (Luke 18:13). One cannot endure such wounds without response. Those who heard the preaching of John the Baptist (Luke 3:10), those who heard the preaching of Peter (Acts 2:37), Paul’s experience (Acts 9:6), and the Philipian jailer’s experience (Acts 16:30).

The cause of the broken heart is the ministry of the Word as used of the Holy Spirit. In John 16:8, Jesus told of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our day. The Holy Spirit uses God’s moral law (Romans 7:7, 3:20), the Gospel (2 Corinthians 10:4-5) in the New Testament church setting (1 Corinthians 14:24-25) to break the heart of the one he is convicting and calling by His grace.

In healing, God does not always all together take away the broken heart. There is a sense in which the repentant will always be broken. For example, the only one acceptable to God is the broken hearted (Psalms 51:17). The only one God associates with is the broken hearted (Isaiah 57:15). But, this doesn’t mean that we will be forever convicted and broken because of the penalty and guilt of sin. In coming to Christ, we receive His atoning work to put away sin (Hebrews 9:26, 10:17).

The manifestation of the broken heart among God’s elect is our humbleness before Him trembling at His Word, having respect for all that is in His eternal purpose and always rejoicing in His mercy. (Psalms 34:18, Isaiah 66:1-2, Psalms 147:11).

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