Bobby Chandler - Broken No More
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Summary:
In this final message of the series on preventing spiritual injuries, the preacher draws from Psalm 40:3 and David’s example of trusting God during Absalom’s rebellion, emphasizing that true trust means abandoning our own control and worshiping God even in hardship. He explores Luke 4:18 where Jesus declares His mission to heal the brokenhearted, addressing why many believers still feel spiritually broken due to shame and lack of vulnerability. Ultimately, he concludes that Jesus came not just to heal or set free, but to make us whole through removing the veil of shame and filling us with His presence, so we can live restored and broken no more.
Ending the Series: Trusting God in Difficulty
Today we are ending our series; this is my last message for the series on warning how to prevent spiritual injuries. We have been asking the question: what do you do when you feel spiritually broken? What do you do when you’re struggling in your faith? What do you do when you’re praying for hope and you want it, but it’s hard? It’s hard to trust God when it seems like you’re facing something very difficult around you.
Something I’ve already preached on in this series, I want to remind you of: Psalm chapter 40, verse 3. Now when I told you guys, I referred to the Message translation because the wording is really cool. At the end of it, and this is David, theologians believe he went to this mountaintop to worship the Lord. The last two sentences, according to the Message translation, are that he stepped into the mystery, and he abandoned himself. He abandoned himself, meaning I trust the Lord so much that I abandon my own will, my own wisdom—what I’m seeing around me. God, I love you so much, I worship you that I put everything into your hands.
A New Song of Praise
So let me read this now in the New Living Translation: He has given me a new song to sing. Again, this is David, a hymn of praise to our God. For many will see what he has done, and guess what? They will be amazed. They will be amazed to see what God has done for some of you. You’ve already lived out that testimony. If you were able to come up on this stage and share what God has done in your life, people would be amazed because they can relate to it. Then he says they will put their trust in the Lord. David says, «I abandoned myself because I put my trust in you.»
What’s fascinating about this passage of scripture that I did not tell you guys is that theologians believe that when David went to the mountaintop to worship God, at that exact time his son Absalom was leading a rebellion to take over the kingdom. In fact, this is what David did. You know David is a mighty warrior; he can take people down. He has been through many battles; he’s not afraid. But in this instance, he actually walked away and said, «You know what? I’m going to let the Lord fight my battle. If God wants me in authority, if God still wants me in leadership, he’ll bring me back.»
David’s Radical Trust
Think about that! They’re trying to take over his kingdom, his position, to take everything from him. His own son is ready for battle, and David’s like, «I trust the Lord; God’s got this.» He said this in Second Samuel chapter 15, verse 26: «Let him, ” talking about God, „let God do to me whatever seems good to him.“ And then he wrote that on the mountaintop: „Lord, I abandoned myself because I trust you and I worship you. I step into the mystery because you are that good.“ And what did God do? God took care of him, and the authority was given back to him. God fought his battle; God will fight your battle.
What do I do, Pastor, when things get hard? What did David do? You get alone with God and you worship his holy name. You trust him; you praise him. The things that you want to control, if you remember, I said the more we try to control, the more we lose self-control. The more our tempers flare, and we say things we didn’t mean. Then we’re trying to make this perfect, but we can’t, and we get frustrated, we get tired. But when we give it to God, we’re saying, „God, you are in control of all things. If you want me there, you’ll bring me there. If you want this to happen in my life, you’ll make it happen.“
The Freedom in Surrender
I’ve been praying that all morning today before you guys: „God, whatever you’re doing here, I just want it to be according to your will. However you want it to look, however you want it to be. If you want it to explode and people are coming from everywhere, God, let it be your will. But Lord, if it’s just five people that you want to hear today that you’re going to impact, I trust you.“ It’s freeing; it’s freeing. And that’s what that peace of mind is really аbout: he trusted the Lord.
But let me ask you this question: what is stopping you from having this kind of trust in the Lord? What is stopping you right now? What is going on in your life that may be taking you back a little bit where it’s hard to trust the Lord? Because how many of you would love to have faith like David? „I trust the Lord no matter what! Somebody’s taking over my kingdom; I trust the Lord!“ Maybe you’re on your way to work, and your car breaks down. Instead of freaking out and saying, „I don’t know what to do, ” you call the tow truck guy and say, „God’s got this! Don’t worry, come get my car.“ And then as he’s getting your car, you’re telling him about Jesus and he’s looking at you like, „You weirdo Christian, please stop talking to me“ because you have peace in the Lord. God’s got you.
When Life Hits Hard
Maybe you got hurt and have to go to the hospital, and now you have to have surgery and it gets expensive, and these things that you did not expect are now coming into your situation. But what happens when you trust the Lord? My God is a provider. Well, say it in here, but do we say it out there? We say it when times are good, but do we say it and praise his name in times of frustration? That is how you fight; that is how you stand strong; that is how you believe the Lord is doing something that you cannot. But what is it right now that is holding you back from trusting the Lord?
I started to think, and after many conversations with different people, I realized that a lot of us, even in this room or watching online, a lot of believers today are walking around still believing that they are spiritually broken. Meaning you’re mentally seeking God but you never feel found? You ever been through something like that? You’re mentally searching and seeking for God. „God, I’m at church; I’m here! What’s up? What are you going to do with my life? God, I’m serving; I’m doing these things; I’m showing up every Sunday, and I’m really tired and cranky, and I don’t want to talk to people yet I’m praying over them. What are you going to do?“ You’re mentally seeking God but still, something’s missing; you don’t feel found. If so, I do believe that God is going to speak to you today, and the title of today’s message is this: „Broken No More.“
Jesus Came for the Broken
This is the gospel truth: Jesus has come to set you free, to heal you, to not be like the rest of the world. Yes, you’re going to go through different things; you’re going to go through hard times; people are going to make you mad; things are going to happen. But the world looks at it like, „I just give up; I don’t have anything left.“ But you walk strong with your head held high because you know that God is in control. And Jesus said, „I’ve come for the broken. I come for you!“ Look in Luke chapter 4, verse 18, the New King James Version: Jesus said, „I have come to fulfill the prophecy.“ What was the prophecy? He said, „The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to do what? To preach the gospel to the poor.“ And Jesus said he has sent me; the Father has sent his Son here on earth to heal the brokenhearted. You feel broken? You feel hurt? You feel lost? You feel like something’s missing? Jesus came to heal you, to set you free, to do something different in your life.
Will you do me a favor? Look to somebody next to you and tell them, „You’re not broken; you’re not broken.“ Some of you are a little cuckoo, but you know you’re not broken. This one over here? Pray. So we should all rejoice, right? We should all celebrate. Yes, God has freed us from brokenness. But if I were to ask you what does brokenness even mean in living that out, would you have a definition for it? Would you be able to really write it down how you’re feeling or what you’re going through to even say that you have felt broken or this is happening in your life?
What Does Broken Really Mean?
Because I want you to understand that the definition of feeling broken in your life actually means that you’re past the point of no return. It means that you are past the point of no return. Maybe you have felt this in your job, in your position. You’re tired of people; you’re tired of the frustrations; you’re tired of what your boss says about you; you’re tired of being away from family, and you’re past the point of no return. You don’t have answers; you don’t know how you’re going to make it through, but you just know, „I can’t do this anymore, ” and it gets very dangerous too because when you feel broken, it also affects your relationships.
Some of you know what it feels like to be broken within your own marriage. „I’m just past the point of no return. I feel like there’s nothing left that I can give. There’s nothing left that I can do. Every time that I pray, it just seems like things aren’t working out. I’m past that point.“ For some of you, it’s just people. You have a hard time making friends because you have a hard time trusting people. You’ve been burned before; you’ve been hurt before. Maybe somebody that you loved and did all these things for just kind of stabbed you in the back, and you’re like, „All right, if this is how people are going to treat me, I’m better off by myself. I’m past that point of no return.“
And then you look in the mirror and feel like something’s missing. You’re past that point. And we kind of get prideful about it, right? „I’m strong; I’m independent.“ But we were created to be dependent upon God. We are created to trust in his strength, not our own. And you are created to share the gospel, and the good news, and the love of God to people, and I say it all the time—that don’t even like you because it’s not about them; it’s not even about pleasing yourself; it’s about pleasing the Father because you know his presence, and you know that he is good.
Why Do We Feel Broken?
So here’s what I want to do today: if you feel broken, if you feel lost, if you feel like something’s missing, I want to answer two big questions that are going to help you today. Question A is this, and it should be on the screen as well: question A, why do you feel this way? Ask yourself this question: why do I feel this way? Why do I feel broken? What is going on in my life right now? Maybe you need to write it down; maybe you need to examine what’s actually happening. Because a lot of people, when they go through something hard, they try to avoid it. Listen, you can’t run away from your problems; you can’t escape it like that. You have to confront your problems.
But I want us to look at it from a biblical perspective. I want us to see in the very beginning what took place for any of us in this room to be able to feel broken. The answer is this: we have a hard time today being transparent. We have a very difficult time being vulnerable, being real, and admitting what’s actually going on in our life, right? Especially in the church. „So how you doing today?“ „I’m doing great!“ On the inside, you’re like, „My life is falling apart right now. Do you have donuts? Because that would help a little bit.“ „You ain’t got donuts? I’m going to the church down the street!“ Okay? We have a hard time being transparent, meaning instead of admitting our sin, admitting our faults, confessing what we have going on in our own life, we try to hide it. We try to conceal it. We try to make everybody think that we’re perfect, we’re good, and that everything’s going to be okay.
The Origin of Shame
We see this from the very beginning of creation. Because as Adam and Eve brought sin into the world, what was the first thing they tried to do? They tried to hide from God. They brought sin into the world; they rebelled against what God told them to do, and then they thought they could hide from God. Now I want you to understand this: when they were first created, they had no shame. They had no shame; they loved everything that God had given them. But they had no shame—not at all. And the scripture is very clear about this; they were naked, they were vulnerable, and they lived in peace. And some of you are like, „Pastor, can you say naked on stage?“ Listen, the Bible makes a point of it; it brings it up twice. Genesis chapter 2, verse 25: „Now the man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.“ Why would the Bible tell you that? Because of perfection. They weren’t ashamed of anything; they were living in the presence of God. It didn’t matter what anything else looked like.
But then what happened? When sin came into this world, you know what the first thing they realized was? They were naked! That was the first thing! And notice that the scripture is very clear about this—it says that they felt. Because they felt vulnerable, they actually felt ashamed. Notice that wording: they felt ashamed in their nakedness. And when I read this, I’m like, „Man, why are you so ashamed? There’s only you two in the world; that’s it! And you’re both married; who’s gonna see you? A tiger? Like, who cares?“ But they were ashamed because they felt vulnerable, and the scripture tells us immediately they had to cover themselves up. This is what we do: „I’m going through something, but you’re not going to know because I’m going to cover it up.“ „I’m hurting, but that Facebook profile picture? I’m going to be smiling because I’m hurting.“
Shame Drives Us to Hide
And I want you to know this: this is what happened as soon as their eyes were opened. Immediately, in Genesis chapter 3, verse 7, at that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame. Now listen to me about this: because shame is always the weight of sin. Shame is the weight of sin. So they suddenly felt shame at their what? Their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. And then they heard God walking; they heard him walking, so they hid from God. Which tells us this: when you carry your shame, you hide from God. When you carry your shame, when you walk in your shame, you hide from God because you believe that you are not worthy to be redeemed. You believe that you’re not worthy to be restored. You believe that this is what I have in my life—it’s filthy, it’s dirty, I can’t believe it. And Satan is just condemning you over and over again. You’re saying, „God, I can’t be here!“ And the world is ruthless! The world will put Christians on a pedestal. One Christian does something bad: „Look at them! Look at these Christians!“ Right?
Who in here ever said that they were perfect? Nobody! Only Jesus is perfect! So why do we pretend to be, though? Why do we pretend that we have to have it all together? Let me ask you this, because this is a very important question, but it’s a hard one. What shame are you hiding from God? What shame right now in your life are you hiding from God that makes you feel like you’re not worthy enough to be redeemed or restored? Also, what makes you believe that you can actually hide it from God? Because you can’t! God already knows. He knows what you’re going to do before you even do it; he knows your slip-ups; he knows your mess-ups; he knows the attacks that are going to come into your life. So what shame are you hiding from God?
Losing Real Connection
And I’ve realized this too: a lot of us, we have a hard time having real conversations. We walk into the church, like I just said, we pretend that everything is okay. But a lot of us don’t even like talking to people anymore, to be vulnerable in that way. You remember in the '80s and the '90s you got really excited to get on the phone and talk to your friend for hours? Then all of a sudden, in the early 2000s, you get on the phone, you hear that dreadful AOL sound. Y’all remember what that sounded like? Like, „Dad! Stop checking your email; I’m trying to call my friend!“ You remember when it was exciting to get AOL? You got mail, and you would check it over and over again? But now in today’s culture, especially for the younger generation, if you call me, I don’t have to answer because I could just text you. I don’t even have to text you right away; I could say „I’m busy.“ I’m not—I’m eating a sandwich, but I can’t! Somebody in here is like, „Wait, Pastor, you said that to me before!“ I was really busy that time.
Okay, but we can text later. I don’t have to text you right away—in fact, we could even examine our text. Does this sound good? What do you think this sounds like? And we could use autocorrect, and I’m terrible at spelling things. Yeah, and I can make sure everything is like perfect now! Okay? Because this is the way I want you to see me. I have control over that! But people have lost control when you have a real conversation. In fact, I’ve realized in today’s culture, more people are having panic attacks talking to people because of social media. Oh man! And then when you get on social media, all you hear is people arguing and all these things, and you’re looking at the world like, „This is a crazy place! I can’t trust none of you! Nobody! Like, what am I going to do?“ And people are just having this anxiety and stress on how to have a real conversation.
And the reason why is because we don’t want people to see who we really are because then they notice our faults. They notice that we’re not as smart as we pretend to be or as clever or as talented or have it all together. Maybe you’re that mom trying to pretend you have it all together. Maybe you’re that husband trying to pretend that you’re leading the family the right way, but there are things in your life that you know you need to get rid of. Maybe you’re having a hard time because you see yourself as broken. You still look at yourself and see yourself as spiritually broken. You feel ashamed; you feel like you’re walking in your shame. Even though you trust and believe that Jesus came to restore you and you know it’s true, how did it get here? From the very beginning of Adam and Eve. The very moment that sin came into the world; the weight of sin will always be shame.
Always!
How Do You See Yourself Restored?
Question B is this: how do you see yourself restored? If this is sin, if this is the world that we live in, then Pastor, what hope do we have to get through? How are we going to get through this? How am I going to make sure that life is perfect? I came to Jesus; I want to make sure everything is good, but how do I know because I still feel empty? And I’m telling you as a pastor, I have people come to me all the time asking this question. „Look, I came to Jesus, but I still feel empty. I came to Jesus; something is missing. What do I do?“ Here’s how I like to reply to that question: what did you come to Jesus for? Think about it. What did you come to Jesus for? A lot of times I get the answer: „Healing!“ Well, I came to the church because people told me I needed to be there. And maybe you needed spiritual healing; maybe you needed physical healing. So you came to be in the presence of the Lord for that healing, and you believe that God would heal your life and heal who you are so that you would feel redeemed.
We see this out of the Bible; there are many biblical stories in the Gospels where people were following Jesus for that—what? For the healing! Just to touch him to be healed, to get through a roof to be healed. „Jesus, give me that healing—I need!“ Did you know, though, that you can be healed by Jesus and still feel empty? You can be healed by Jesus and still feel empty! Remember the story I taught you out of Luke chapter 17. In Luke 17, Jesus was walking into a village, and there were a lot of people around that area, and there were 10 men—with leprosy—who were on the outside. Because if you had leprosy, that meant you can’t be around anybody; they felt like outcasts. We talked about that. That meant that they had to leave their families; they couldn’t hug their children, if they had children, and they see Jesus walking into this village, and they cry out, „Hey, Jesus, have mercy on us!“ And if you look at the commentary, theologians believed that they weren’t even asking for a miracle or a healing; they were actually asking for a handout. „Hey, Jesus, can you give me some clothes, or can you give me some food?“ Because that’s what they were used to.
Healing vs. Being Made Whole
And then Jesus gives them this odd answer, this weird direction. He says, „Hey, go show yourselves to the priest.“ And I kind of wonder when I read the story, were they thinking, „What did he just say? Go show ourselves to the priest? Why? The priests don’t like us!“ You know, „Okay.“ And they start walking. And what’s incredible about the story is as they start walking toward the priest, as they obey Jesus, it is then that they saw physical healing in their life. Now imagine, walking, and all of a sudden, just the leprosy going away, like, „Oh my goodness!“ And the scripture tells us this: Luke chapter 17, verse 14: „He looked at them and said, 'Go show yourselves to the priests.' And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy!“ So they had to obey Jesus to get that healing. This is something that I’ve already taught you, but remember there was only one man that came back. That’s important! Ten men were healed; one came back to Jesus. And the reason why is because yes, he was physically healed, but he realized what just happened, and now he desired to be restored.
And so he comes up to Jesus, and remember, he was a Samaritan, okay? And Samaritans didn’t talk to Jews. So he comes up to Jesus, he bows at his feet, and he starts to worship Jesus. And Jesus says this: Luke 17, verses 17-19. If you remember, Jesus asked, „Didn’t I heal ten men? I kind of wonder if he was like, ‘Uh, yeah, hold on; do you want me to call them real quick? ’ No, no, where are the other nine? No one has returned to give glory to God except the foreigner. He was a Samaritan!“ And Jesus said to the man, „Stand up and go; your faith has healed you.“ Now this can also be translated like this: „Your faith has saved you!“
Your faith has saved you! Your faith has made you whole! Here is a shocking truth: many have come to Jesus to be healed but did not come back to be restored. You came to Jesus for a certain reason: „I was here, Lord, and I wanted a healing!“ Did you receive it? And if you did, what did you do next? Did you walk away? What about if the healing didn’t come the way you wanted it to? What did you do after that? Did you worship him or did you leave? Many have come to Jesus to be healed but did not come back to be restored. And the second answer I get a lot of times is this: this is a big one. „I came to Jesus to be set free! Hallelujah! Rejoice! We believe in Christ who came to redeem us, to restore us, and to set us free, set us free from addictions, set us free from some of the things in our life that hold us down. But were you filled?“
The Danger of Being Empty
Because here’s another truth: you can come to Jesus to be set free, to be delivered, yet still remain empty. And this is interesting to me because Jesus actually says this is so dangerous if you do this. You can come to me and be delivered, but if you are not filled by the Holy Spirit, it is so dangerous, and there’s a strong possibility you will become worse than you were before. Have you experienced that in your life? Where you were set free, you did good, alright? „God, everything’s good!“ And then all of a sudden, you start sliding back and things got worse and worse and worse, and now you’re worse than you were before, and you don’t understand. See, Jesus gave us this warning out of Luke chapter 11, verses 24 through 26. And the background of this message, or this passage of scripture, excuse me, is that he was casting out a demon. And then the Pharisees started these rumors and they started talking: „Well, he gets his power from Beelzebub.“ And Beelzebub is pretty much Satan, a demonic prince. And so they’re saying that Jesus has the authority to cast out a demon from Satan.
And Jesus looks at them and says, „That’s ridiculous—that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.“ And that’s where we get the famous line. He says, „No kingdom divided against itself can actually stand. Satan wouldn’t go against his own demons; it doesn’t work like that. But only by the authority and the power of God am I able to set this man free.“ And then it was after that that Jesus gave this strong warning to the Pharisees. And notice the Pharisees, notice this: the religious people that felt like they had it all together in Luke chapter 11, verses 24 through 26. Jesus said, „When an evil spirit leaves a person, when an evil spirit is cast out, it goes into the desert searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from! ’“ So it returns and finds that his former home is all swept and in order. Now we’re talking about a person, right? Yet the demon sees this person as their home. Notice that! Because I’m telling you today, if you are not filled with the Spirit of God, Jesus in your heart, you follow the world, you’re filled with something! This is why the scripture is very clear: your body is a temple! It’s a temple! And some people think that means you gotta have abs; that’s not what the scripture’s talking about.
But the Spirit of God lives inside of you to fill you so that the next time a demon comes knocking at your door, the Spirit of God’s like, „You can’t come in here! There’s no room for you!“ It’s been filled. So Jesus has given this warning. Now look, look: this man was delivered; the demon was cast out, and the demon is roaming around. And the demon says, „I’m going to go back to my home.“ He finds a home all swept and in order. Meaning that sometimes we like to control our life and put these little checklists together. „Let me make life look better for a little bit!“ Alright? But then when he finds it all in order, then the spirit finds seven other spirits, Jesus said, more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than he was before. Jesus is saying you can be set free, but without the Spirit of God living inside of you, the demon still considers your body its home!
Your body its home to come back to! And guess what? This demon wants to bring friends! And that’s why it gets hard when you start doing the right thing, and that’s why you can’t be in control! It’s dangerous because you can’t fight this without the Spirit of God! You can still be set free and still not restored!
A Honeymoon Illustration
So what do we do? What do we do? You came to Jesus; you still feel empty. You were healed, or maybe there was healing in your life somehow, some way. You came to Jesus to be set free; you were set free, but you still feel like something’s missing. What do you do, Pastor Felix? Are you back there? Everybody, give my hand clap just for fun. This man is a trooper! I’m always having him do weird stuff for my illustrations, but he does really good. Just hold that on, or hold that for me. Am I echoing? Okay, let’s take that off.
Alright, so let me share this story with you guys. When me and Christy first got married, we thought it would be a great idea to go to Disney World on our honeymoon, and it was fun! But a lot of things happened, so I’m glad that we had that puppy love at that time. Because we went to Disney World, and then the second half of the honeymoon was like this Disney cruise. We thought it’d be cool. So I’ve told you guys before, I’m like scared to death of heights. Big guy in the sky doesn’t make sense; none of us should be in the sky. So she loves roller coasters, and she sat down and she’s like being all cute looking at me like, „You want to hold hands?“ Like, „No! I really don’t. No, I’m about to die!“ Thank you for this. She’s like, „Just hold my hand.“ I’m like, „Listen, I don’t want to.“
So she holds my hand because you don’t listen to me anyway, and then by the end of the roller coaster ride, I’m like, „That wasn’t too bad!“ I look at her; she’s like, „Let go of my hand!“ And I’ve been squeezing her hand through the entire time, like just crushing her. And then after that, we went on the cruise, and then we found out, well hey, she gets motion sickness from being on a cruise ship, and so she had to take medication and all these things to make—and it gets worse, though. This one day was really fun—we just got on the cruise and I guess maybe I wasn’t listening that well because they said, „Hey, we’re going to do a drill, a test. In case something were to happen, we want you guys to get out the life jacket, and come out.“ And I can’t remember if we had to go into the hallway or out there on the ship or whatever. So the alarm starts sounding off. I wasn’t paying attention; I look at Christy like, „What is that? What’s going on?“ She’s like, „Chill, it’s a drill! Just go get a life jacket!“ Like, „Why do we need a life jacket for a drill? Just go get it!“
So she gets hers; I remember what she did, but she clipped it on, and she walks out. She left me behind! Okay, that’s a sign. Alright? I go to the closet, and in my panic, I’m like, „Alright, I gotta get a life jacket! People are out there right now!“ And I started getting this thing, and I’m like, „Alright, I gotta get this thing!“ I’m fiddling around in the room, like, „Come on! What’s wrong with this thing?“ And I’m trying so hard to squeeze it in the mirror: „I gotta get out there!“ And Christy’s like, „Hurry up!“ I’m like, „I’m coming!“
Right? I get out there, and I’m like, „I’m gonna die!“ Okay? I couldn’t buckle this thing up; I don’t know what to do! This is what you’re stuck with. She starts laughing; I’m like, „That’s rude!“ And she goes, „Why did you put that on?“ I’m like, „What do you mean why did I put on a life jacket? We all have to put on a life jacket!“ She goes, „No, you put on the kid’s size life jacket!“ And I’m like, „There’s another one in the closet that fits me better!“ She goes, „Yeah!“ She was laughing hysterically, and I started to think about it because here’s what was happening: I was in such a panic mode from something that caught me off guard, I wanted to look like everybody else so badly I was blind to what was actually in front of me—completely blind.
There was another life jacket! I never saw it, and I never noticed that it would fit me. In fact, I came out looking like a dummy! But that’s what we do, right? Thank you Pastor Felix! That’s what we do! That’s what we look like sometimes when we’re not trusting the Lord, when we’re trying to take it into our own control. And sometimes—and the Bible talks about this—I’m gonna get ahead of myself a little bit, but the Bible talks about this veil that is literally over your eyes; where sometimes you just don’t see things clearly. You don’t understand why Jesus really came.
Jesus Makes Us Whole
How do you see yourself restored? You have to realize that yes, Jesus did come to set you free; yes, Jesus did come to heal you, but ultimately Jesus came to make us whole, to make us full of his presence and his goodness, to know who he really is—to walk broken no more! You will go through trials and seasons where you feel broken, but at the end of the road, you should be healed. You should know his love and trust it because the definition—listen to this—the definition of being made whole means to be rescued. It means to be saved—a full peace of mind! That’s what it means to be whole! I have a full peace of mind that no matter what life looks like right now, God is still good! Because Jesus is always the life jacket that will fit. See what I did there? But he will, no matter what situation no matter how big or how small. Jesus came to make you whole and redeem you and always fit.
Now, I told you, and I think I–I don’t think I gave you guys the King James Version, but in Luke chapter 17, verse 19, I said that as the man with leprosy was healed, Jesus said, „Okay, your faith has saved you! Your faith has restored you!“ In the King James Version, it states it like this: „And he said unto him, arise, and go thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole.“ Your faith has made you whole! Sometimes I wonder when Jesus was saying, „Where’s the other nine?“ We look at it like maybe he was mad, getting on to them. But maybe Jesus just knew what they were missing! They thought they had the answer, and it wasn’t! It was a miracle! But still, it won’t sustain them; it won’t fill them! They received something good from God, but they’re still going to walk away feeling empty.
The Veil Over Our Eyes
And just like I said, in my panic, I could not see the life jacket that was in front of me because I looked foolish. In scripture, it talks about this veil—a covering. What is the veil? It is a covering; it is to hide your shame, your vulnerability. And we see this with Adam and Eve from the very beginning, right? Sin came into the world; what did they do? „Oh, we’re naked! Let’s cover ourselves!“ Because now I feel vulnerable, and I feel ashamed. Nine men with leprosy—they had a veil over their hearts. How? Because yes, they received healing, but they didn’t stop to think, „How did he heal me? Who is that man that I would go back to worship at his feet?“
The Pharisees—the scripture talks about this all the time—Paul says this all the time. The Pharisees had a veil over their eyes. They could never see what God was doing. Did you know if they believed God would have redeemed them too? And they saw the same miracles! They saw all the miracles, but instead of realizing that Jesus was actually fulfilling the scripture and being the Son of God, they started rumors, and they said, „No, no, no, ” because they were mad and angry about his authority. It was available as a covering; they could not see that the prophecy was being fulfilled right before their eyes! And Paul talks about this veil. One of my favorite stories is that of Exodus chapter 34, and I know I’ve been in a lot of scriptures today. This is a good one!
Exodus chapter 34: this is when Moses had ascended to Mount Sinai! He’s coming down from Mount Sinai, and he received the Ten Commandments. As he’s walking down Mount Sinai, people are looking upon him, and his face is glowing. Like the scripture is very clear: we become the light of the world—the light of darkness—when we have Jesus living inside of us. And so Moses is coming down from Mount Sinai; his face is glowing. He’s received the Ten Commandments, and if you know the story, he put a veil over his face. And I always thought that the reason that he did this was not to scare people, alright? So like, what would you do if I came up on stage and my face is glowing in a weird way? You might be frightened! So I’m thinking, okay, maybe this is what he did; he didn’t want to scare people. He’s in the presence of God, alright? So he’s trying to just slowly come back to normal.
But then Paul reveals that wasn’t the case. Paul reveals that Moses was not trying to protect the people—listen to this! He wasn’t trying to protect the people! He was trying to protect himself! Because the holiness and the light was fading and Moses didn’t want the people to know. But that hit home. Moses didn’t want to let the people know! He said this in II Corinthians chapter 3, verses 12 and 13: Paul said, „Since we have such hope, we are very bold.“ Not like Moses who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end—the glory was fading! Why did you come to Jesus? Maybe you’ve received that healing; maybe you were set free; maybe it was a relationship; maybe you needed guidance, and you felt like the glory was all around you—the presence of God! But as time went on, it felt like it was fading, and you didn’t want people to know about it fading.
Removing the Veil
And so instead of looking at yourself as restored and redeemed, you look at yourself as still spiritually broken, past the point of no return! So what do we do? I want to end this series by making it very simple with two points as I close this out to become whole. Point number one is this: allow Christ to remove the veil. Not you, but you allow Jesus to remove the veil! Paul said this in II Corinthians chapter 3, verses 15 and 16. He said, „Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil is over their hearts.“ What’s he talking about? He’s talking about the unbelieving Jews! He’s talking about the Pharisees that saw a miracle after miracle after miracle, that even read the scriptures with the Son of God right there! But a veil was over their eyes because they could never see that he was the Son of God! Paul says a veil lies over their hearts; but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed!
How does the veil get removed from your life? When you turn to Jesus! Remember, it is your job, your responsibility to turn to Jesus! Because what veil are you wearing? Maybe a mom pretending to have it all together; maybe you’re hurting dad who wants to lead his family, but you keep struggling with a short temper, and every time you want to show them love, you say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing—you put this veil up. Maybe it’s needing Jesus for healing, but you never came back to worship him! You got what you wanted, but you never laid down at his feet! You never praised him; and so yeah, on the outside, I’d be physically healed, but on the inside still, something’s missing, and you’re questioning, „I came to Jesus, so why do I still feel this way? What am I going through?“
And one pastor said it like this: he said it best. „We impress people through our strengths, but we connect with people through our weaknesses.“ When we stop trying to pretend that everything is okay, when we stop concealing the things that we need to confess, it’s by our weaknesses that we actually grow stronger! Because now you’re not pretending it’s not there—because it is, and it hurts—but now that you’re looking at it headstrong through Christ, you can be healed, redeemed, and restored! And when that happens, you realize it is all about Jesus! And to be whole means a peace of mind.
Vulnerability and Freedom
God, today I live for you. Today, God, your will would be done. And like I said, this really convicted me even about the church. I was sharing just this weekend with some good friends how sometimes as a pastor I’m like, „Alright, we gotta move this direction, cast vision, and I want to see just so many people come into this church.“ But this morning, God reminded me who’s in charge, who’s in control. And it’s up to God if he wants to explode this church really quick or a slow process to have us ready to get there! It is completely up to him, because my only job is to tell you how good he is and to enjoy his presence.
Because I’m telling you, until you sit in silence and hear his voice and enjoy his presence, you’ll always feel empty. And you can try to avoid, but one day you gotta sit there and hear him. Only Jesus can remove the veil for you to see. My last point is this: to love, you have to be vulnerable. That’s the scary thing about love, right? Is that I literally trust you with my heart! I give you my heart, and you can break it! You can hurt me; you can do something. But still, God created us to love, and that means to be vulnerable!
But with Christ, he will never break your heart—never! And here’s the truth I want to share with you: vulnerability makes us whole in Christ because we come as we are and still restored! You don’t have to hide anything from God! You’re only hurting yourself if you pretend to be perfect and that you have it all together! God wants your mess so he can take it and make you clean! God wants your problems so he can show you his power and his authority and his goodness! God wants your mistakes and your faults so he can show you his forgiveness and his grace and his mercy! And you become addicted to the presence of God, and you can’t breathe without worshiping his holy name because you’re forgiven!
Paul stated it like this: he said in II Corinthians chapter 3, verses 17 and 18, „For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom!“ We sing it all the time! So all of us who had that veil removed—it’s gone! You now see the glory of Christ! You now know what he can do, how he can redeem you and restore you and make you whole! It’s been removed! You can see! And because you can see, you now reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord, who is the Spirit, makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. He’s changing the way you think, the way you talk, the way you trust, the way you handle relationships, the way you walk through trials! He’s changing everything about you because he’s removed the veil! He’s made you whole, and he wants you to know it!
For some of you, when you leave today, I’m gonna encourage you in your car to look like a lunatic and shout out, „Today, God, you’ve made me whole! And I believe that I’m not broken anymore because Jesus came to fulfill that prophecy; he came to heal the brokenhearted.“ I’m broken no more!