Broken By Sin | Broken | Pastor Kim Kesecker

Devotional

Day 1: Christmas exists because we need rescuing from sin

Talking about sin can feel uncomfortable, but God raises the topic because He loves you. Christmas exists because we need rescuing from sin, not shaming for it. Sin is less about breaking made-up rules and more about how we get broken when we live out of alignment with our design. Facing this honestly is the doorway to healing and a better life. Let Jesus meet you in your real condition and begin the rescue today. He came precisely for this [03:21]

Matthew 1:21 — She will have a son, and you must name him Jesus, because his mission is to rescue his people from the grip of their sins.

Reflection: What misunderstanding about sin has shaped how you relate to God, and what is one step you’ll take this week to let Jesus rescue you in that area?

Day 2: Sin breaks people, not just rules

God’s moral ways function like the operating principles of the universe—meant to make life and relationships work, not to control you. When we lie, we don’t just “violate a rule”; we fracture trust and damage ourselves and others. Sin is saying, “I know better,” stepping away from the One who designed you in love. Distrust leads us to dig our own solutions that cannot hold what our souls need. That’s why sin always promises satisfaction and leaves us empty and cracked. Come back to the spring of living water [11:23]

Jeremiah 2:13 — My people have done two evils: they walked away from me, the life-giving spring, and they dug their own water pits—cracked and leaking, unable to hold a drop.

Reflection: Identify one “broken cistern” you keep turning to for relief; what would trusting the spring of living water look like for you over the next three days?

Day 3: Sin is a sickness needing healing

Jesus doesn’t approach you as a punishing judge but as the Great Physician. Sin is a sickness in the soul; what you most need is healing, not hiding. On the cross, Jesus absorbed your sin to free you from it, so you can finally live what is right. Your heart and desires can be deceptive, but His wounds carry real power to mend what’s broken within. Bring specific patterns into His light and ask for His healing touch. He alone can make you whole [13:25]

1 Peter 2:24 — He carried our sins in his own body on the cross so we could be finished with sin and learn to live in the right; the wounds he suffered are the means by which you are healed.

Reflection: Where do you feel the sickness of sin most acutely right now, and how will you invite Jesus’ healing—through confession, counsel, or a specific act of obedience—today?

Day 4: Broken over sin invites God’s favor

Owning your brokenness isn’t weakness—it is living in reality where grace can reach you. God delights in a heart that is humble and repentant; He does not turn away the contrite. Like the tax collector, simple honesty—“God, be merciful to me”—opens the way to being right with God. Pride and denial only deepen the cracks; humility brings you under His favor. From this posture flow gratitude, intimacy, freedom, and true transformation. Choose the low place and find yourself lifted by His mercy [24:52]

Luke 18:13–14 — The tax collector stayed at a distance, wouldn’t even lift his eyes, struck his chest, and prayed, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” I tell you, that man went home right with God, not the other; whoever elevates himself will be brought down, and whoever humbles himself will be lifted up.

Reflection: When you pray, do you sound more like the Pharisee or the tax collector; what precise words of humble honesty could you bring to God tonight?

Day 5: Bring your alabaster jar and pour it out

The woman with the alabaster jar shows that healing flows from what we break open in Jesus’ presence, not from what we keep bottled up. She poured out what was most costly, and Jesus received her offering as love, not as a stench. He covered her shame with forgiveness and sent her out in peace. You carry a jar too—your story, regrets, and struggles—and Jesus invites you to bring it close and hold nothing back. The fragrance of humility is precious to Him, and intimacy with Him grows as you pour out. Come with open hands and leave with a healed heart [34:41]

Luke 7:37–38, 48, 50 — A woman known for her sin came with a costly perfume jar; weeping behind Jesus, she washed his feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair, and poured out the perfume. He said, “Your sins are forgiven… Your trust has saved you; go in peace.”

Reflection: What is one concrete “jar” you need to break open before Jesus this week, and how will you do it (for example, a conversation, confession, or surrendered habit)?

Sermon Summary

I opened our Advent series, Broken, by naming what we all feel: “broken by sin” sounds like the least Christmassy theme. But Christmas only exists because we needed saving. The angel told Joseph to name the child Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. If that is true, then I have to rethink sin—not as a set of arbitrary religious rules, but as a reality woven into how life actually works. God’s moral design is like gravity; we don’t break it as much as it breaks us. When I lie, it’s not that I’ve crossed an invisible line—it’s that I’ve cracked trust, isolated my heart, and damaged a relationship. Sin breaks people.

I also named a deeper layer: beneath wrong actions is a posture of distrust. God calls himself the spring of living water, yet I dig broken cisterns—self-made strategies that leak. Sin promises satisfaction, but leaves me empty, thirsty, and brittle. Scripture calls sin a sickness, not merely misconduct. Sickness needs healing, not just punishment. So Jesus carries our sins to the cross, and by his wounds we are healed—healed into a life that can finally align with what’s right.

Paul’s confession in Romans 7 gives me language for my own inner civil war: “I want to do good, but I don’t.” He was not only broken by sin; he was broken over his sin. That’s the turning point. God sets his favor on the humble and contrite. Jesus’ parable makes it vivid: the chest-beating tax collector goes home right with God, not the polished Pharisee. Owning my brokenness—without blame-shifting, minimizing, or hiding—opens me to four gifts: gratitude that grounds me in reality, intimacy as I draw near and God draws near, freedom as truth breaks denial, and transformation as God renews my mind and re-teaches my desires to trust.

Finally, I pictured the woman with the alabaster jar. She didn’t dab a little perfume; she broke it and poured it all out—costly, irreversible, honest. That’s how healing flows: not from what I keep bottled up, but from what I break open in Jesus’ presence. Christmas is God moving toward broken people with healing in his hands. So I bring my jar—my story, my shame, my struggle—and I pour it out. He receives it as worship, speaks forgiveness, and sends me out in peace.

Key Takeaways

1. Sin breaks people, not just rules. Sin is misalignment with God’s design for life, relationships, and the soul. Like gravity, moral reality is woven into creation; when I step out of alignment, something in me fractures. This reframes conviction—not as God’s scolding—but as an invitation back into reality where healing can begin. Naming sin this way makes honesty feel sane, not shaming. [08:44]
2. Distrust lies beneath our disobedience. Underneath behaviors is a heart that doubts God’s goodness, wisdom, and care. When I don’t trust the spring of living water, I chase broken cisterns—solutions that leak joy and leave me emptier. Repentance, then, starts with trusting God’s character before tackling conduct. Obedience grows where confidence in God’s heart is restored. [10:46]
3. Sin is sickness; Christ heals. Jesus calls sinners “the sick” and presents himself as the physician, not the prison guard. The cross is not only pardon; it’s medicine—by his wounds we are healed into a new way of being. This means I bring symptoms without pretending, seeking treatment instead of hiding them. Spiritual growth is submitting my soul to the Healer’s ongoing care. [13:05]
4. Brokenness attracts God’s transforming favor. God draws near to the contrite, not the curated. When I stop excusing and minimizing, I step out of denial into freedom, intimacy, and renewed thinking. True brokenness becomes the doorway to gratitude and durable change, because grace does its best work where pretense has died. Humility is not weakness; it’s the safest place to heal. [21:55]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:35] - Brokenness as a Christmas gift
[02:27] - Why Christmas is about sin
[03:58] - Three big misunderstandings of sin
[06:48] - Laws of life and moral design
[08:24] - Lying and relational fracture
[09:36] - Sin as distrust of God
[12:20] - Sin is sickness, not mere rule-breaking
[16:21] - Paul’s struggle and our own
[21:34] - God’s favor on the brokenhearted
[23:04] - Pharisee and tax collector contrasted
[28:01] - Gifts found in brokenness
[31:53] - The alabaster jar: costly surrender
[34:19] - Forgiven, saved, and sent in peace
[36:07] - Prayer: bring your jar to Jesus

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
- Matthew 1:21

Observation questions
- In Matthew 1:21, what specific problem does the angel say Jesus came to solve, and what does that suggest about the core meaning of Christmas?
- Three common misunderstandings about sin were named. Can the group list them and how each one was reframed? [03:58]
- What two images from Jeremiah describe the deeper issue beneath our behaviors, and what do they reveal about the heart’s posture? [10:46]
- What was significant about the woman breaking and pouring out the alabaster jar—what made her act costly, irreversible, and honest? [33:10]

Interpretation questions
- If Jesus came “to save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21), how does it change someone’s view of salvation to see sin as sickness needing healing rather than just bad behavior needing punishment? [13:05]
- Seeing God’s moral design like gravity, not arbitrary rules—how does that reshape the way a person hears conviction and thinks about consequences? [07:09]
- What is the difference between being broken by sin and being broken over sin, and why might that be the turning point that welcomes God’s favor? [17:31]
- If beneath disobedience is distrust, how does renewed trust in God’s character practically grow obedience? [09:36]

Application questions
- Where is your life out of alignment with God’s design right now—and what has that misalignment actually broken (in you or in a relationship)? Think as concretely as the lying example that fractures trust. [08:44]
- What “broken cistern” are you tempted to chase for relief or satisfaction (approval, control, comfort, secrecy, success, etc.)? What would it look like this week to turn back to the spring of living water in that exact place? [10:46]
- If sin is a sickness, what treatment will you seek with Jesus now—confession, counsel, community, Scripture, prayer, making amends? Sketch a simple plan and invite someone to walk with you. [12:20]
- Name one pattern where you feel Romans 7 tension: “I want to do what’s right, but I don’t.” What honest step could move that struggle into the light so rescue can begin? [16:21]
- Which ownership trap do you fall into most—blame-shifting, belittling, excuse-making, being sorry only because you were caught, or hiding behind “just forgiven”? What would full ownership look like this week in one specific situation? [25:37]
- Choose one gift to practice this week:
- Gratitude: one daily habit that helps your life “overflow with thankfulness.” [28:01]
- Intimacy: one drawn-near step (a set time of honest prayer, a psalm, silence) to “come close to God.” [29:13]
- Freedom: one truth you will say out loud to break denial, plus one action step. [29:57]
- Transformation: one thought God needs to renew and one practice that re-teaches your desires to trust. [30:54]
- What’s in your “alabaster jar” right now—story, shame, secret, or struggle—that you’ve kept bottled up? What would “breaking it open in Jesus’ presence” look like this week, and who is a safe person you can invite into that process? [33:49]

Sermon Clips

These laws aren't arbitrary. They're woven into the fabric of creation. If I step off a rooftop, I don't break the law of gravity, I get broken by the law of gravity. The law of gravity breaks me. In the same way, God created these moral laws, we'll call them for humanity. And he didn't do it to restrict us, but he did it as these operating principles that simply make life work. They make relationships work. They keep us in harmony with our creator. They keep us in harmony with one another. And they even keep us in harmony with ourselves. [00:07:09] (44 seconds) #DivineOperatingPrinciples

You see, when we violate those laws, we don't just break a rule. We break something inside of us. And often, we end up breaking others around us in the process. There's a break. There's a fracture in the way that life was meant to be lived. Here's a real simple example. Lying isn't sinful because God put it on his divine naughty list. You know, I'm just going to make it up this rule, lying, don't lie. No, God designed relationships for honest communication. But lying, it will breed uncertainty and distrust. It builds up walls of protection and isolation. It weakens and fractures a relationship. It's not religious or arbitrary. It's destructive. [00:07:53] (51 seconds) #LiesBreakTrust

And when we choose another way, when we choose our own way, we're communicating a very serious message to our creator, whether we realize it or not. We're saying, I don't trust you. I don't trust you. I do not believe your way is the best way. I do not believe that you understand or even really care about me and my happiness. That's what we're communicating. [00:10:12] (28 seconds) #ChoosingOwnWay

Jeremiah says that sin breaks us because it turns us away from our only true source of life. And instead of trusting God, the spring of living water, we start chasing after our own solutions and our own desires and our own cisterns. But they're broken cisterns. Broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Sin, it promises to satisfy, but it leaves us so empty. And thirsty, cracked, and broken. When we distrust our creator and we choose our own way, brokenness always, always, always follows because sin doesn't just break rules. Sin breaks people. [00:11:04] (50 seconds) #BrokenBySin

We are all broken by sin, but we are not all broken over our sin. And so, we continue to get broken. And our relationships continue to get further broken. And our lives continue to get broken. The cracks get wider and deeper in our souls and in our lives. But for those broken over our brokenness, Scripture promises God's favor is upon us. And there are blessings to be found in our brokenness, gifts that I think Jesus wants us to receive and embrace this Christmas. [00:27:08] (45 seconds) #BrokennessBringsFavor

Brokenness can draw us close to God like nothing else can. When all the pretenses fall away and the walls come down and we come to him in honesty and in humility, in our mess and with our mess, intimacy with him grows. We get closer to him like nothing else can bring us. We know him in a far deeper and more personal way as the one who truly is close to the brokenhearted and whose favor is upon us, whose love envelops us. [00:28:56] (36 seconds) #BrokennessDrawsNear

In her hands, she carried this little alabaster jar of expensive perfume. And likely the most precious thing she owned. But in her heart, she carried something even more valuable and precious. Her brokenness. And as she broke open that alabaster jar, she didn't just, you know, kind of dab it on Jesus' feet. She emptied it. She poured it all out. She held nothing back. Her act was extravagant. It was costly. And it was irreversible. Once she broke open that bottle and poured out everything, nothing could be put back in the way it was before. [00:32:40] (42 seconds) #PourItAllOut

As she poured out the perfume, this sweet fragrance of brokenness, it just filled the house. And to Simon, it was a stench. To Simon, who could only see this woman for her sin, he saw this act as offensive. It stunk. But to Jesus, it was a pleasing, a pleasing aroma. And far from offensive, he received it as a precious act of love and worship. He responded to her with his favor. [00:33:49] (34 seconds) #AromaOfHumility

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