Apart from a pure gospel message, friends, I
don't know of a more important message than
I can preach other than this one.
I've agonized over it and prayed over it
with the hopes of it being real to
someone who hears it.
I know at one time I myself needed
to hear it and have it applied to
my life.
If you go to the doctor and he
tells you we have a cancerous tumor and
we refuse to submit to the surgery to
remove it and instead we just go apply
some topical ointments with the hope it will
go away, the tumor will only grow more
deadly.
About a year ago I was lying in
the ICU having been brought there in an
ambulance.
All four of my main arteries were 90
% blocked and I was on the very
verge of eternity for me to have a
hope to live.
I had to agree to undergo open heart
surgery where they removed my heart from my
body and cleaned out the veils like an
automobile carburetor.
You have to first remove the carburetor to
clean the parts.
I know that's a simplification of open heart
surgery but it gives you an idea of
what I'm talking about.
I had to agree to the surgery and
sign my name on a doctor's release form.
God gives us opportunities to be worked on
by him.
He is the divine surgeon of our hearts.
If we recognize the need but refuse to
undergo the process we can end up in
a very dangerous place.
I have a very important message for you
today friends, for some of you.
It may be one of the most important
messages you'll ever hear in your life so
please pay attention and lend me your ears.
I have a three-part sermon today.
The first part is a story I want
to share with you.
Then I want to read an important passage
of scripture to you.
Then I want to exhort you to follow
God as I finish my message.
Remember friends that Jesus had a few important
truths.
He needed to teach his disciples but he
had to keep telling those same truths to
them over and over again until they finally
sunk into their thick skulls.
Well the first part of my message is
a story and it's an interesting one about
Sam Jones the evangelist who was so mightily
used to God in revival in the late
19th century.
Why in 1885 God used Sam Jones to
literally shake the whole city of Nashville in
revival.
Well let me tell you this story about
Sam Jones now friends.
Sam Jones was at home in Cornersville Georgia
when he received a telegram from Texas inviting
him to go preach to the cowboys of
southwest Texas.
Well he prayed about it and he got
on a train and went to Texas and
for two weeks he preached the gospel of
Jesus Christ to the cowboys of Texas.
When it was over as they came to
the end of the campaign the cowboys wanted
to give Sam Jones a love offering.
They felt the laborer was worthy of his
hire and they had received wonderful blessings from
his time among them but there was a
problem.
They had no money not a single dollar
in any of their pockets and they didn't
know what to do and they allowed Sam
Jones to go back home to Cornersville Georgia
with no compensation or love offering of any
kind whatever.
Well Sam Jones went back home and a
number of weeks passed by then suddenly one
day he received a telegram.
It was from the cowboys of Texas.
It read like this.
We are sending you a love offering and
we are shipping you a carload of broncos
and Sam Jones scratched his head as he
looked in amazement at that telegram.
Well what am I going to do he
said with a carload of wild horses in
the small town of Cornersville.
Well his friend was standing beside him and
he said why it's very easy.
Hold an auction sale sell the broncos and
you'll get your money.
You can get your love offering then and
put it in your pocket.
Well Sam Jones thought it was a good
suggestion so he held a auction sale.
He sold the broncos all except one.
He kept the finest looking bronco for his
son.
He wanted to give the bronco to his
son.
He wanted to give that bronco to his
son as a gift and that's what he
did.
But the son had never in his life
been on the back of a unbroken bronco
and Sam Jones wondered what he could do.
He called the cowboy to him who had
brought the carload of broncos to Cornersville.
He said will you take this bronco?
Will you break them so that my son
can ride them?
Yes sir said the cowboy.
I'd be glad to.
How much will you charge?
Fifteen dollars said the cowboy.
All right said Sam.
Take him away.
The cowboy disappeared with the bronco.
Two weeks later he came back.
Is he broken said Sam.
Yes sir he's broken.
Can my son ride him in perfect safety?
Yes sir your son can ride him in
perfect safety.
All right here's your fifteen dollars.
The father thought that before allowing his son
to ride the bronco he better mount himself
and make sure that the cowboy had broken
the bronco.
He started toward the bronco.
The cowboy came up waving his hands in
alarm.
Why said Sam.
What's the matter?
What's gone wrong?
Oh said the cowboy.
He's only broken on one side and you're
mounting from the wrong side.
Oh said Sam.
That will never do.
My son might make a mistake and he
might mount from the wrong side.
How much will you charge to break him
on the other side?
Fifteen dollars said the cowboy.
All right said Sam.
Take him away and break him on the
other side.
Well another two weeks passed by and again
the cowboy came back leading the bronco.
Is he broken said Sam.
Yes sir he's broken.
Both sides?
Yes sir both sides.
Your son can mount him with perfect safety
from either side.
All right here's your fifteen dollars.
Well I like that story friend because it's
so true.
You know the average Christian is only broken
on one side.
He'll do this but he won't do that.
He'll go here but he won't go there.
He'll give God just so much of himself
but still hold something back.
He's like the bronco.
He's only broken on one side and then
he wonders why God doesn't use him more.
Why the years have passed by and he's
not used of God.
He may have been highly educated.
Perhaps he's been well trained.
He may have even gone to seminary and
he sees God using other men who've got
very little education, very little training, who've never
been to seminary and they're being used to
God but he can't understand why God doesn't
use him more.
He doesn't realize he's only been broken on
one side that God can't trust him.
He'll do this but he won't do that.
He'll go there but he won't go here.
He's only broken on one side and God
cannot rely upon him.
God cannot trust him.
The man God uses is the man who's
been broken on both sides.
The man who's been totally surrendered and totally
yielded to the Lord Jesus Christ.
But some broncos don't break so easily.
They're more stubborn, more hard-headed, more self
-willed.
People are like that too.
A lot of our stubborn will is rooted
in either pride or self-preservation.
But to recognize a need and fight against
it is a very dangerous place to be,
friend.
God hardened Pharaoh's heart within him and instead
of submission to God he strove against him
to his ultimate ruin.
I've known individuals in church meetings where I've
physically seen God deal with them by his
spirit.
I sat near a woman in church who
God was dealing with and her broken hearted
sobs of anguish wracked her entire body and
disturbed all those seated near her.
I saw her respond to the evangelist's appeal
for commitment by going into a room for
prayer.
She emerged not broken but more hardened than
ever.
I saw a deacon in a Baptist church
harden himself against God because of his pride.
God was obviously dealing with him during revival
meetings but he refused to respond to the
evangelist's appeals to come rededicate one's life to
God at his altar.
He just sat there while others received a
blessing and he hardened himself from being moved
next time.
His pride was the obstacle that stood between
him and God.
He didn't want others to see his weakness.
I've seen it in myself when I've been
wrought upon by God's spirit and conviction where
I saw clearly my need to be broken
on both sides and I waffled.
I gave up this sin but I held
on to that one.
I budged a little here but refused to
budge there.
I was willing to give God almost all
but not entirely all and for years I
stood on the sidelines for God as I
struggled in a battle with my will against
God's will and God didn't use me.
I did a lot in the flesh.
There was flesh but God wasn't working through
me.
There's a difference friends.
Oh I made my excuses here and there.
I saw God finally pulling away from me
to leave me to my own devices.
I could almost hear him say Ephraim is
joined to his idols.
Let him alone.
Finally a day came where I surrendered to
his claims on my life and I said
Lord I can no longer resist you.
Surrender all I am and all I have
to you.
Give you undisputed reign and rule in my
life from this point on.
Then God started using me and he's still
using me.
If God's been dealing with you friend it
is presumptuous on your part to assume he
will continue to strive with you.
It's a perilous place to be for God
has declared in his word that he is
no respecter of persons and he says my
spirit will not always strive with man.
Now we come to the second part of
my message today friends and that is our
Bible passage.
You can turn in your Bibles to the
book of Isaiah.
We will be in chapter 5.
This striking passage of scripture in Isaiah chapter
5 is where we find the parable of
the vineyard where God declares now will I
sing to my well beloved a song of
my beloved touching his vineyard my well beloved
hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill
and he fenced it and gathered out the
stones thereof and planted it with the choicest
vine and built a tower in the midst
of it and also made a wine press
therein and he looked that it should bring
forth grapes and it brought forth wild grapes.
Here God exercises great care over his people.
He has great expectations for them but they
turn out being a great disappointment to him
and in their obstinate rebellion end up under
a great judgment from him.
He looked for grapes but all he found
was wild grapes.
God the Father has carefully cultivated you digging
here and watering there picking you up here
when you fell and strengthening you so not
to sin against him willfully again.
He has carefully cultivated you by his grace
and by his spirit in the hopes of
your entire submission to him so that you
can be broken on both sides and be
useful to him and he laments over you
what could I have been done more to
my vineyard that I have not done.
God only uses those who are broken on
both sides.
All else is what we drum up and
manufacture in the name of God and religion
by self-effort but Cain's offering was no
good.
It had no blood in it.
Our self-preservation will only harden our hearts
more and more like an adamant stone until
one day we turn so far away from
God and rebellion to him that the devil
will be there waiting in the shadows.
This is what happened to prideful King Saul.
He ended up going to the devil.
I've seen this happen to church people I've
personally known.
God deals with them.
God extends his grace to them.
God strives with them by his spirit but
it was all for naught.
All that was left was wild grapes.
Grapes have to be stepped on and pressed
on and crushed on to be made into
fine wine.
Now we come to the last part of
my message today friends.
If God has been dealing with you through
the sermon friend it may very well be
your last call for response and obedience to
him.
If a father warned his child time and
time again about the danger of playing with
knives and if the child was old enough
to obey and refused to obey then that
knife could cut them all to pieces.
God loves you like a father and as
a father he desires entire submission to him
for your own good.
He wants to keep you from the things
that can harm you.
You will either surrender your stubborn will to
him and be broken on both sides or
you won't.
But if you'll do you'll be crossing over
your own Rubicon and there's no turning back.
But remember this it was the loaves that
were broken in the master's hands that fed
the five thousand.
It was the broken vase that released the
sweet smelling fragrance to anoint Jesus.
Being yielded to God friend simply means getting
low.
It's getting low enough to give it all
to him.
Let me give you an example of this
in the life of Adrian Rogers.
Adrian Rogers was a man broken on both
sides and that's why God used him so.
As a young man Adrian Rogers was crossing
a field one day when he felt a
sudden urge to pray and give himself entirely
to God.
He got down on his knees and said
Lord Lord Jesus I want to go low
enough for you to use me.
But he realized just kneeling wasn't low enough
so he lay on the ground on his
stomach in the grass of that field and
he prayed again that God would let him
get low enough so he could be used.
But he realized that wasn't getting the job
done either.
So Adrian Rogers took his index finger and
dug a hole in the dirt big enough
for his nose and in complete humility and
utter surrender he laid back down again and
stuck his nose in the dirt the earth
filling his nostrils and he prayed once more
Lord Jesus this is as low as I
can go.
And God honored that and began to use
Adrian Rogers to where he eventually his name
was known all over the world as a
preacher of the gospel.
God may be speaking to you friend right
now by showing you you are not low
enough.
You're still holding something back.
He's gently telling you it's time for the
wild grapes to go that old stubborn will
must be yielded to him.
For a long time I couldn't grasp the
significance of John chapter 15 where Jesus tells
his disciples I am the vine ye are
the branches.
He that abideth in me and I in
him the same bringeth forth much fruit for
without me ye can do nothing.
For years I applied that truth only to
the daily devotional time where we are abiding
in Christ when we are praying to him.
I miss the central thought which is this
a branch has no source of life on
its own.
It must be yielded to the vine to
participate in fruit production.
When I try to go my own stubborn
way I'm in a place of self-rule
and I have no power from above and
I can do nothing for God from his
perspective that is impacting and lasting for eternity.
I must be broken on both sides.
I must be yielded continually to the vine
if I ever can do anything worthwhile for
God.
Obedience is yieldedness and the only way to
get there is by brokenness.
Obey God and yield it all to him
friend.
Get low enough in your heart friend and
ask him to take complete control and give
him his rightful place to let the Lord
Jesus have undisputed reign and rule in your
life.
Give it all to him friend.
He's not a cruel taskmaster but a loving
father who has your best interests at heart.
Come to him now.
Get low before him and get your nose
in the dirt so to speak and come
lay it all on Jesus.
I have a promise from the word of
God to you friend that if you get
serious with God he will get serious with
you.
He promises to meet you where the desire
of your heart is.
Psalm 18 says so with the merciful thou
wilt show thyself merciful.
With an upright man thou wilt show thyself
upright.
With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure.
And with the froward thou wilt show thyself
froward.
Ask God to meet you now friend and
ask God to break you on both sides.
He can make your life a sweet fragrance
that reminds this perishing world of this Jesus
who gave his all at Calvary where he
willingly submitted to the father on that bloody
cross and held nothing back.
Let us take this time now to get
along with God and yield it all to
him.
You may wish to slip out of your
chair and get quiet with God where you
are.
Let us pray.
Oh great God let someone here today say
bend me, break me, change me, use me.
Heavenly Father bless someone here with the riches
of your pungent presence and grace.
Pour out your spirit's blessings upon them as
they turn to you now.
Bring change to this person here Lord and
bring change to that person there Lord and
make them the individuals you want them to
be for your glory.
I pray these things in the strong name
of Jesus.
Amen.