The Necessity There is That the Heart Must Be Broken

by John Bunyan

I will now address the following question: What is the necessity of a broken heart? Can a person be saved without a broken heart? Setting aside mysteries that only belong to God, the heart must be broken for salvation because a person will not sincerely pursue the means of salvation until their heart is broken. This is for several reasons.

First, when a person is born into the world, regarding spiritual matters and things that pertain to eternal happiness, they are spiritually dead, stupefied, and absorbed in themselves to the point of being unconcerned. No call or admonition, unless it is accompanied by a heart-breaking power, can bring them to consider their current state and effectively desire salvation.

God has manifested this in various ways. He has threatened people with temporal judgments and even sent such judgments upon them repeatedly, but this alone is not enough. For example, God says, "I have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities; I have withheld the rain from you; I have smitten you with blasting and mildew; I have sent among you the pestilence; I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. Yet you have not returned to me," (Amos 4:6-11). Despite multiple judgments, punishments, and strokes, a person's heart must be broken for them to return to God. In fact, another prophet suggests that such things, instead of converting the soul, may even push it further away. If heart-breaking work accompanies such strokes, he asks, "Why should you be stricken anymore?" and adds, "you will revolt more and more" (Isa 1:5).

The heart of man is fortified and grown insensitive, wrapped up in a skin-like coat of mail that encloses it on every side. Unless this coat of mail is removed and taken away, the heart remains unaffected, indifferent to whatever judgments or afflictions may come upon the body (Matt 13:15; Acts 28:27). This coat of mail, this fence of the heart, is referred to by two great names in Scripture. It is called "the foreskin of the heart" and the armor in which the devil trusts (Deut 10:16; Luke 11:22).

These defenses shield and protect the heart from all gospel doctrine and from all legal punishments, making it impervious to change until these defenses are removed. Therefore, the heart is said to be circumcised in order to effect conversion. The foreskin is removed, and the coat of mail is stripped away. "I will circumcise your heart," says God, "so that you may love the Lord your God with all your heart" – and then the devil's defenses are ruined – "and live" (Deut 30:6; Luke 11:22).

Now, the heart is laid bare, and the Word of God can prick, cut, and pierce it. Once it is cut, pricked, and pierced, it bleeds, falters, falls, and dies at the foot of God unless it is supported by the grace and love of God in Jesus Christ. Conversion, as you know, begins with the heart, but if the heart is so heavily fortified by sin and Satan, as I have stated, all judgments will be in vain until that defense is removed. Therefore, after recounting God's mercies and judgments to the children of Israel, Moses implies that the great thing still lacking in them is an understanding heart, eyes that see, and ears that hear until this day (Deut 29:2, 3). Their hearts had not yet been pierced to the quick, awakened, and wounded by the holy Word of God, nor made to tremble at its truth and terror.

But let us consider: before the heart is pricked, made to feel pain, and so on, how can it be expected, no matter how great the danger, to repent, cry out, bow down, break at the foot of God, and plead for mercy? Yet this is what must happen, for God has ordained it so, and people cannot be saved without it. However, can a spiritually dead person, someone who is numb and unfeeling, do this before their heart is awakened to see and feel their state and misery?

Secondly, when a person enters the world, no matter how worldly wise they may be, they are foolish concerning spiritual and heavenly matters. Paul says, "The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him," because he is indeed foolish about them, "nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor 2:14). So, how can this fool be made wise? Wisdom must be placed in their heart (Job 38:36). Only God can put it there, but how does He do it? By making room for it, by removing the obstacle that hinders, which is the foolishness and madness that naturally resides there. And how does God remove it? By severely chastising the soul for it until they become weary of it. The whip and stripes are intended for the natural fool, as they are for the spiritually foolish (Prov 19:29).

Solomon suggests that it is difficult to make a fool become wise. "Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with grain, his foolishness will not depart from him" (Prov 27:22). This indicates that it is challenging to turn a fool into a wise man. Grinding someone in a mortar with a pestle is a terrible thing, but it appears that a whip, mortar, and pestle are the way. And if this is the way to make one wise in this world, and if all of this is hardly enough, how must a fool who is spiritually foolish be whipped, beaten, and stripped before he becomes wise in spiritual matters? Indeed, their heart must be placed in God's mortar and beaten, crushed with the pestle of the law, before they are willing to listen to heavenly things.

Jeremiah's words are significant: "Through deceit," that is, foolishness, "they refuse to know me, says the Lord." And what follows? "Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says: 'I will refine them and test them,' that is, with fire, 'for how else can I deal with my people?'" (Jer 9:6, 7). "I will refine them: I will put them into my furnace, and there I will test them; and there I will make them know me," says the Lord. When David was under spiritual chastisement for his sin, and his heart was being broken by God, he said that God would make him know wisdom (Psa 51:6). He was in the mortar, in the furnace, bruised and melted; his bones, his heart, were breaking, and his folly was departing. Now he said, "You will make me know wisdom." If I understand anything about God's way with us fools, nothing else will make us wise men; even a thousand breakings will not make us as wise as we should be.

We say that wisdom is not good until it is bought, and the person who buys it usually pays a price, according to the intention of that proverb. The fool is wise in his own opinion, and therefore, there is a double difficulty that he must face before he can be wise indeed. Not only must his foolishness be removed, but his wisdom must be taken from him as well. How can that be done? By ripping open his heart with a severe conviction that shows him that his wisdom is his folly and that it will destroy him. A fool loves his folly, treasures it, and is so enamored with it that it must take something significant to make him abandon it. Foolish people will not weigh, consider, or compare wisdom with their folly. "Folly is joy to one who lacks sense," and "As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness" (Prov 15:21; 26:11). They are so reluctant to let go of it that it must take a lot to make them forsake their folly. Therefore, a great deal is required to make a person a Christian because every person is a fool in that respect, the most unconcerned, self-willed fool of all. It takes the breaking of their heart to turn them away from their folly. David, Manasseh, Saul (who later became Paul), and I were all such fools.

Thirdly, when a person is born into this world, they are not only spiritually dead and foolish, but also prideful. Pride is a sin that manifests itself even in childhood and continues to intertwine with everything they do. However, pride is most deeply hidden within a person's soul, and sin's nature is to not only be wicked but to conceal its wickedness from the soul. Therefore, many people think they are doing good when they are actually sinning. For example, Jonah believed he was right to be angry with God (Jonah 4:9), the Pharisees thought they were doing the right thing by accusing Jesus of having a demon (John 8:48), and Paul believed that he should do everything in his power to oppose the name of Jesus, which he did with great madness (Acts 26:9-10). Sin makes people believe that they are far better than they truly are, causing them to think that they are children of God when they are actually children of the devil. They also believe that they are following Christianity when they do not possess the qualities necessary to be true followers (John 8:41–44; Gal 6:3).

This pride and self-conceit that leads people to believe their state is good for another world, even when they are in sin and under God's curse, can be the cause of their resistance to repentance. This pride is so intense and ingrained in their being that no preacher or minister in the world can persuade them that it is their pride and not grace that they are so confident in. They ignore all warnings, threats, and rebukes that try to show them the error of their ways. The prophet implores them to listen and not to be proud, for the Lord has spoken. However, if they do not listen, the prophet says his soul will weep in secret places for their pride (Jer 13:15–17). The sad conclusion is that all the proud men continued to resist God and his holy prophet (Jer 43:2).

There is nothing that can bring these proud souls to salvation until their hearts are broken. David, after committing adultery with Bathsheba and killing her husband, still boasted about his justice and holiness. He was determined to execute the man who had taken a poor man's lamb, not realizing that he himself was the greater transgressor. He refused to believe it until Nathan, acting on God's authority, told him plainly that he was the man who had done wrong. "You are the man," he said, and at these words, David's conscience was stirred, his heart wounded, and his soul brought to its knees before the God of heaven, seeking mercy (2 Samuel 12:1-13).

Oh, pride! You are the chain that binds many a man to his sins. You are the cursed self-conceit that prevents him from seeing that his state is doomed. "The wicked, through the pride of his face, will not seek after God" (Psalm 10:4). If the pride of his face is so powerful, what can be said about the pride of his heart? Job says that it is to save his soul from hell, that God chastens him with pain in his bed, until his bones protrude, and his life draws near to the destroyer (Job 33:17-22).

It is a difficult thing to make a man see himself as a sinner, a fool, and a cruel man with respect to his immortal soul, instead of trusting in and boasting of his goodness, wisdom, honesty, and the like. Pride of heart has power in it, which is why it is compared to an iron sinew and an iron chain that makes men strong, and holds them in that strength to oppose the Lord and reject His Word from their hearts (Leviticus 26:19; Psalm 73:6).

This is the sin of both devils and men, and it's the sin from which no one can be delivered until their heart is broken. Only then will pride be cast aside and one will be willing to yield. If someone is proud of their strength or manhood, a broken leg will humble them. If someone is proud of their goodness, a broken heart will humble them. As previously stated, a broken heart comes from the discovery and recognition of one's sin, through the power of God on the conscience.

Fourthly, take a man as he enters the world, and he is not only dead, foolish, and proud, but also self-willed and headstrong (2 Peter 2:10). A stubborn and unyielding creature is man before his heart is broken. This is why he is often referred to as a rebel, rebellious, and disobedient, doing only what he wishes. "All day long," says God, "I have stretched out my hand to a disobedient and gainsaying people." Furthermore, they are compared to a self-willed or headstrong horse that, despite its rider's commands, charges into battle. "Everyone," says God, "turns to their own course, as the horse rushes into battle" (Jer 8:6). They say, "With our tongue, we will prevail. Our lips are our own; who is lord over us?" (Psa 12:4).

They are said to stop their ears, pull away their shoulder, shut their eyes, and harden their hearts against the words of God, and contemn the counsel of the Most High (Psa 107:11; Zech 7:10,12). They are fittingly compared to the rebellious son who would not be ruled by his parents, or the prodigal who wanted everything in his own hand, removing himself far away from his father and his father's house (Deut 21:20; Luke 15:13). Nothing else will work for such creatures except violence. The stubborn son must be stoned until he dies, and the prodigal must be famished out of all. I say, nothing else will work. Their self-willed, stubborn heart will not comply with God's will until it is broken (Deut 21:21; Luke 15:14–17). These are the ones called the stout-hearted, who are said to be far from righteousness and will remain so until their hearts are broken, for only then will they truly know themselves (Isa 9:9–11).

Fifth. As he enters the world, man is not only dead, foolish, proud, and self-willed, but also fearless. 'There is,' says the scripture, 'no fear of God before their eyes' (Rom 3:18). There is fear of man, fear of losing his favour, love, goodwill, help, and friendship, which is evident everywhere. The poor fear the rich, the weak fear the strong, and those who are threatened, fear their threats! But when it comes to God, none fear Him; that is, by nature, none reverence Him. They neither fear His wrath, nor seek His grace, nor ask how they can escape His avenging hand that is lifted up against their sins and souls because of sin. They fear little things, but they are not afraid to lose their souls. 'They do not fear me,' says the Lord (Mal 3:5).

How many times are some men reminded of death by sickness, graves, the death of others, the reading of the Word, the lashes of conscience, and the howls of despair coming from those who depart this world? How many times are they reminded of hell? For instance: 1. By God's binding of the fallen angels for judgment. 2. By the flooding of the ancient world (2 Peter 2:4, 5; Jude 6, 7). 3. By the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire from heaven (2 Peter 2:6; Jude 7). 4. By the appointment of a day (Acts 17:29–31). 5. By the appointment of a judge (Acts 10:40–42). 6. By the preservation of their crimes in records (Isa 30:8; Rev 20:12). 7. By the appointment and preparation of witnesses (Rom 2:15). 8. And by the promise, even the threat, even the resolution, to call the whole world to His tribunal, where they will be judged for everything they have done and said, and for every hidden thing (Matt 25:31–33; 12:36; Eccl 11:9; 12:14).

And yet they do not fear God. Alas! They do not believe these things. To those who are worldly-minded, these things are like Lot's preaching to his sons and daughters who were in Sodom. When he told them that God would destroy that place, he seemed to them like someone who was joking; his words were like idle tales to them (Gen 19:14). Fearless people are not won over by words; blows, wounds, and killings are the things that must bring them under fear. How many times did Israel have struggles with God in the wilderness? How many times did they declare that they did not fear Him? And notice that they were seldom, if ever, brought to fear and dread His glorious name unless they were surrounded by death and the grave. Nothing but a severe hand will make the fearless fear. Hence, speaking in human terms, God is compelled to go this way with sinners when He desires to save their souls. He must bring them and lay them at the mouth, and within sight, of hell and everlasting damnation. And there, He must also charge them with sin and guilt until their hearts are broken before they will fear His name.

Sixth. Man, as he comes into the world, is not only a dead man, a fool, proud, self-willed, and fearless, but he is also a false believer concerning God. No matter how plainly God reports of Himself, man by nature will not believe this report of Him. They have become vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts are darkened. Therefore, they turn the glory of God, which is His truth, into a lie (Rom 1:21–25). God says He sees; they say He does not see. God says He knows; they say He does not know. God says none is like Himself; yet they say He is just like them. God says none shall keep His door for nothing; they say it is useless and unprofitable to serve Him. He says He will do good; they say He will neither do good nor evil (Job 22:13, 14; Psa 50:21; Job 21:14, 15; Mal 3:14; Zeph 1:12). Thus they falsely believe concerning God. Moreover, concerning the word of His grace and the revelation of His mercy in Christ, they do not hesitate to say by their practice, for a wicked man speaks with his feet (Prov 6:13), that it is a blatant lie and not to be trusted (1 John 5:10).

Now, what can God do to save these people? If he hides himself and conceals his glory, they will perish. If he sends messengers to them and doesn't come himself, they will perish. If he comes to them but doesn't work on them by his word, they will perish. And if he works on them but not effectively, they will perish. If he works effectively, he must break their hearts and make them fall at his feet for mercy, like wounded men, or no good will be done on them. They won't believe rightly until he breaks them out of their wrong beliefs and makes them know by breaking their bones for their false faith that he is, and will be, what he has said about himself in his holy Word. The heart, therefore, must be broken before the person can come to good.

Seventh. When man comes into the world, he is not only a dead man, a fool, proud, self-willed, fearless, and a false believer, but also a great lover of sin. He is captivated, ravished, and drowned in its delights. Hence, the Word says that people love sin, delight in lies, take pleasure in wrongdoing and those who do it, and they enjoy their own deception and take pride in their shame. This is man's nature because sin is mixed with and has mastery over all the powers of his soul. This is why they are said to be captives to it, and led into the pleasures of it at the will of the devil. And it is not easy to break love or take the affections off an object on which they are so deeply set, rooted as man's heart is in his sins. How many people contemptuously dismiss all the allurements of heaven, trample upon all the threats of God, and say "pshaw" to all the flames of hell when they are presented as reasons to turn them away from their sinful pleasures! They are so fixed and mad about their beastly idols. Anyone who tries to stop them in their tracks in this way is like someone attempting to stop the raging waves of the sea from their course when driven by powerful winds.

When men are somewhat put to it, when reason and conscience begin to listen to a preacher, or a judgment that begins to hunt for iniquity, how many tricks, evasions, excuses, demurs, delays, and hiding-holes will they make, invent, and find to hide and preserve their sins with themselves and their souls, in the delights of them, to their own eternal perdition? They endeavor to stifle conscience, to choke convictions, to forget God, to make themselves atheists, to contradict preachers that are plain and honest, and to heap to themselves such preachers only as are like themselves, that speak smooth things, and prophesy deceits; yea, they say to such preachers, 'Get out of the way; turn aside out of the path; cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us' (Isa 30:8–11). If they are followed still, and conscience and guilt find them out in their secret places, and roar against them for their wicked lives, then they will flatter, cajole, dissemble, and lie against their soul, promising to mend, to turn, to repent, and grow better shortly; all to daff off convictions and molestations in their wicked ways, so that they may pursue their lusts, pleasures, and sinful delights without control.

Indeed, I have known some who, because of the weight of guilt and the lashes of hell upon their conscience for their evil deeds, have roared like bears, yelled like dragons, and howled like dogs; but as soon as their present torments and fears were gone, they returned again with the 'dog to his vomit; and as the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire' (Hosea 7:14; 2 Peter 2:20–22).

Once again, some have tasted the good Word of God, the joy of heaven, and the powers of the world to come, and yet they could not break their bond with their lusts and sins, no matter how hard they tried (Hebrews 6:4, 5; Luke 8:13; John 5:33–35). Oh Lord! Who is man that you are mindful of him? He has sinned against you; he loves his sins more than he loves you. He is a lover of pleasure more than he is a lover of God!

Now, how can this man be saved from this sin? How can he be brought out of love with it? Undoubtedly, according to the Word, it can only be done by wounding, breaking, and disabling the heart that loves it, making it a plague and gall unto it. Sin may be made an affliction and as gall and wormwood to those who love it, but making it so bitter to such a man will only be done by great and sore means. I recall a little girl in our town some time ago who loved to eat the heads of dirty tobacco pipes, and neither punishment nor good words could persuade her to stop. Her father sought the advice of a doctor, who gave him a remedy: take as many of the foulest tobacco pipe heads as you can find, boil them in milk, and make a posset of that milk, then make your daughter drink the posset. He did so, and the posset became so unpleasant and nauseating to her stomach that she could never bear to eat tobacco pipe heads again and was cured of her addiction.

You love your sin, and punishment and good words have not yet been able to make you turn away from it. Beware, if you do not turn away, God will make you a posset of it, which will be so bitter to your soul, so unpleasant to your taste, so repulsive to your mind, and so afflictive to your heart that it will break it with sickness and grief until you loathe it. He will do this if He loves you; if not, He will allow you to continue with your addiction.

Once again, the children of Israel longed for flesh instead of the bread of heaven and wept, cried, and murmured over it, despising what was offered to them (Num 11:1-6). Moses went to God and reported how the people had rejected the heavenly bread, and how they longed, lusted, and desired to be fed with flesh. God said they would have flesh, and they would have their fill of it, until they were sick of it, saying, "Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; but even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you; because ye have despised the Lord" (Num 11:11-20). God knows how to make what you crave loathsome to you, especially if it is not good for you. And if he loves you, he will do so. Otherwise, he will let you be until the judgment day and hold you accountable for all your sins then.

Eighth. As a person is born into this world, they are not only spiritually dead, but also foolish, proud, self-willed, fearless, a false believer, and a lover of sin. They are like the wild olive tree or a wild ass. "For vain or empty man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt" (Job 11:12). Ishmael was a figure of man by nature, a wild man. And the Holy Ghost said of him, "And he will be a wild man" (Gen 16:12). This man was a figure of all carnal men, estranged from God. Thus, it was said of the prodigal son at his conversion that he came to himself, implying that he was wild or out of his mind before (Luke 15:17). Though sometimes there is a difference between being wild and being mad, in spiritual terms, one who is wild in regard to God is considered to be mad or out of their mind, and incapable of minding their own eternal good until they are tamed. There are several things that are signs of being wild or mad, and they all converge in a carnal person.

  1. A person who is wild or mad does not listen to good advice. The chaos in their mind closes them off from wise and sober people, causing them to be led astray. Similarly, carnal people treat good advice as pearls thrown to swine; they trample it underfoot and despise the person who offers it (Matthew 7:6). "The wise man's words are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools" (Ecclesiastes 9:17).
     
  2. A wild or mad person will spend their entire life on a task that ultimately amounts to nothing. Their work, labor, and toil come to naught, proving that the person who did it was out of their mind. David, imitating such a person, scribbled on the gate of the king like a fool with chalk. All the work of carnal people is like this, laboring for the wind, achieving nothing more than filling their belly with the east wind (Ecclesiastes 5:16; Job 15:2). 
     
  3. A wild or mad person, when given a task, will complete it according to their own foolish fancy, rather than following the instructions given to them. Jehu executed the command of the Lord in his own madness, paying no attention to the Lord's command (2 Kings 9:20; 10:31). Similarly, when carnal people engage in matters of God, such as hearing, praying, reading, or professing, they do so according to their own foolish fancy, disregarding God's commandments. 
     
  4. A wild or mad person, when they dress themselves, reveals their madness even in the way they do it. They either use frivolous and worthless things, or if they use something better, they wear it in an absurd and ridiculous manner, rather than in a way that shows wisdom and sobriety. And so it is with natural people who try to please God with their outward appearance. Would anyone in their right mind try to make themselves pleasing to others by dressing in filthy rags or covering their face with filth? And yet, this is how carnal people dress themselves when they try to approach God (Isa 64:6; Phil 3:7-8).

Oh, the madness that possesses the hearts and minds of carnal people! They walk according to the ways of this world, following the spirit of the devil, which is the spirit of disobedience (Eph 2:1-3). But do they realize this? No, they think they are the only ones who are sane, and they are tickled by their own insane ideas and mock others who live in the world. But how can a wild or mad person become sober? Leaving them alone or giving them kind words will not work. They must be tamed; they must be restrained by force. "He brought down their hearts with labour," or by continual molestation, as the Psalmist says (Psa 107:10-12). He is speaking of madmen who are kept in darkness, bound in affliction, and irons because they rebelled against God's words and scorned the counsel of the Most High.

Only God can deal with them in this way. They must be taken away from people, put in chains, darkness, afflictions, and irons. They must be blooded, half-starved, whipped, purged, and treated like mad people until they come to their senses and cry out in their distress. Then they cry out to the Lord in their troubles, and He saves them from their distress. He brings them out of darkness, the shadow of death, and breaks their chains (Psa 107:13-15). This is how God tames the wild and brings prodigals to themselves and to Him for mercy.

Ninth. When a person enters this world, they are not only spiritually dead, foolish, proud, self-willed, fearless, a false believer, a lover of sin, and wild but also have no taste for the things of God's kingdom. I mentioned earlier that an unconverted person cannot taste things, but I must also add that they have no appetite for them. They call bitter things sweet, and sweet things bitter; they judge everything incorrectly. Such people are the ones whom God warns with a woe. "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter" (Isaiah 5:20).

This part of the text clearly shows us that some people have no taste for the things of God. They consider His sweet things bitter and the devil's bitter things sweet, all because they lack a broken heart. A broken heart tastes differently from an unbroken one. A person who has no pain or physical distress cannot appreciate the virtue or goodness of the most excellent plaster, even if it is applied to an arm or leg; they would instead say, "Get away with these stinking things." But apply the same plaster where it is needed, and the patient will appreciate, taste, and savour its goodness, and even praise and commend it to others.

It is the same with spiritual things. The world does not know what the anguish or pain of a broken heart means. They say, "Who will show us any good?" That is, what is better than what we find in our sports, pleasures, estates, and preferments. "There be many," says the Psalmist, who speaks in this way. But what does the distressed person say? "Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us," and then adds, "Thou hast put gladness in my heart," that is, by the light of Your countenance, for that is the plaster for a broken heart. "Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased" (Psalm 4:1–7). Oh, a broken heart can savour pardon and the consolations of the Holy Ghost! Just as a hungry or thirsty person values bread and water when lacking them, so do those with a wounded spirit appreciate and hold in high esteem the things of the Lord Jesus. His flesh, His blood, His promise, and the light of His countenance are the only sweet things to scent and taste for those with a broken heart. The full soul loathes the honeycomb, and the unbroken despise the gospel; they have no taste for the things of God.

If twenty people heard a pardon being read and only one of those twenty was condemned to die, and the pardon was only for those who were condemned, which of those people do you think would truly appreciate the sweetness of that pardon? Surely it would be the condemned person. This is precisely the situation we are dealing with. The broken in heart are like condemned people; in fact, it is a sense of condemnation, among other things, that has caused their hearts to be broken. Nothing but a sense of forgiveness can heal them.

But can they truly taste or fully appreciate this forgiveness? No, they cannot, unless they understand their need for it. For those who do not recognize their need for forgiveness, it will be as worthless as it is to someone who doesn't feel any lack in their life.

So, why do some people prize what others despise, even though they all need the same grace and mercy of God in Christ? The answer is simple: some people recognize their woeful and miserable state, while others remain blind to it. And so, I have demonstrated the necessity of a broken heart:

Man is dead and must be brought to life.

  1. Man is foolish and must be made wise.
  2. Man is proud and must be humbled.
  3. Man is self-willed and must be broken.
  4. Man is fearless and must be made to consider.
  5. Man is a false believer and must be set straight.
  6. Man is a lover of sin and must be weaned from it.
  7. Man is wild and must be tamed.
  8. Man has no taste for the things of God and can find no savour in them until his heart is broken.

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Source: The Acceptable Sacrifice, chapter 4

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