A Bruised Reed He Will Not Break

Introduction

How about that song, when he comes in glory by and by, how sweet that will be. Amen. We are so glad that you have chosen to be here this morning to study from the Word of God, to hear what God says in the mighty scriptures, the powerful words of old that he has given us to help us know the things that pertain to life and godliness. If you are visiting with us this morning, you are our guests of honor. And we are so glad that you have chosen to be worshiping with us this morning. We are grateful and thankful for your presence, and we are glad that you are here this morning. We are having some technical issues this morning with some of the computers. So if you’ll just bear with me, I will keep talking and we’ll get these things up and running in just a moment.

We are so glad that you are here this morning. And uh Tony, it should be loaded up in the uh booth and it will should be broadcasting. I’m gonna go ahead and test the first slide. Did that come up? It did. Good. I’ll black that out. So we want to let you know if you’re visiting with us, that as you are guests, we want you to know what we do here at the Church of Christ in South Bumby is try to make sure whatever we teach, whatever we preach, comes straight from the Word of God. Not my message, it’s Christ’s message. It’s not a message that I design, it’s me saying, What do I need to know from God’s word and what is God’s word say so that I can follow after his will.

And so often we find things in the Bible that we change our view about because we get more mature, we gain more wisdom about, and there are other things we come to an understanding of that we never knew. A lot of people in the world maybe heard some plan of salvation that their preacher had, or some book of traditions or creed book it had for years and years, and they just follow that mindlessly without going to the scriptures to check and see what saith the Lord. And so when we teach and preach, we want to follow what saith the Lord. What does God say? If you’re familiar in your scriptures with the book of Isaiah, Isaiah prophesied during a number of kings, and towards the end of the kings, if you look at Isaiah chapter 1, it says he preached during the time of King Hezekiah.

And so that was towards the end of one of the revolts of captivity. And so we read that he prophesied during a long time, and it mentions three to four other kings that he preached during. But one of the things we recognize with Isaiah is that he gives messages for us that are also appropriate in the New Testament times. Many of the things he talked about, such as the suffering servant in Isaiah in the 50 chapters, I believe it’s 53, talked about Jesus Christ and talked about who he is and who he was. There are other passages of scripture earlier on in the book of Isaiah that says, Jesus is coming, a Messiah is coming, a Messiah is coming. But there is a recognition that is told in the New Testament of his style as to how Jesus was, as to how he transformed the teaching and preaching in his era, and the style with which he preached.

In Isaiah chapter 42 and verse 1, 3, and 4, it says, Behold, behold my servant whom I uphold. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoking flax he will not quench. Now that’s kind of interesting terminology to talk about unbroken reeds and unquenchable flax. Reeds were used in the ancient Near East and even up until the first century. And if you go to a fancy paper store today, you can probably still find some papyrus reed paper that they’ve made, but they they take the paper and they make it out of these pieces of uh reed work that are in the marshlands round about the regions of Egypt and Galilee and various places. And he says here, a bruised reed he will not break. Smoking flax, that’s a little different.

I don’t know how many of you all have had the birthday cake candles that you just keep singing. Okay, next verse, keep singing that song because the the little flame, the little candle is just not flickering long, so you got to sing, sing, sing, and then love the candle. And okay, keep going. And so he tried to get all those candles right. But here he’s basically saying, a smoking flax he will not quench. The best parallel I have to a smoking flax for our day and age is those little fireworks starters that you get on January 1st and July 4th. You light the little fireworks starter and then you light all the other fireworks with it. You don’t break that thing and throw it underwater, or else you’ll have no fireworks.

Why did I say that? Here’s why. You know, if you quench the zeal of young people and those that have fireworks for God and are on fire and zeal for the Lord, they may have a little smoking flax. They may have this little tiny flame of zeal, but if you quench it for just a drop of coldness, you’re not going to have the zeal you need. And on the other hand, when we look at bruised reeds, someone who’s brokenhearted, that’s sorrowful, that’s sad, that has challenge in their life and struggles in their life, if all you do is stomp on them with boldness and brash, brazen verbiage, they’re not going to be very receptive to the gospel. And so here in this context, Jesus is the one who it says takes care of this situation.

1. A Bruised Reed He Will Not Break

You say, well, tell me when, preacher, when did that happen in the Bible? In Matthew chapter 26 and verse 13, there’s a lady by the name of Mary of Bethany, who is crying because she knows her dear beloved Jesus is about to go the way of death. She knows he’s forecasted that. And she breaks an alabaster flask of precious ointment and anoints the feet of Jesus, cries tears and wipes his uh his feet with her tears. And Matthew 26, 13 says, wherever this gospel has gone out, listen, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her. So when you preach the gospel message, and remember who remembered Jesus, Jesus says, this will always be a memorial to her.

Here’s a lady who’s sad, a bruised reed, if you will, someone who’s brokenhearted, who’s sad that she knows her Jesus is about to die. And in that passage of scripture, she therefore hears what Jesus teaches to all the people round about, that this message is to recognize he cares about her.

2. A Smoking Flax He Will Not Quench

That’s what Jesus was doing here. He was weeping with her. Maybe he physically didn’t shed tears himself in the context, because he was bold enough to preach to those that needed to hear it. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t spiritually weeping with her and understanding his sorrow and her sorrow were conjoined. How were they conjoined? Do you remember Gethsemane? For he wept bitterly, and his sweat became likened unto drops of blood. But then we look at the other side of the equation, recalling what Isaiah tells us, and we go to a smoking flax that he did not quench. In Matthew, in Mark chapter 12 and verse 34, the passage of scripture says, Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom.

You are not far from the kingdom. When we look at that passage of scripture, that’s when one of the scribes hearing that were reasoning together, perceiving that he had answered them well, he asked, which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, the first of commandment of all is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There’s no other commandment greater than these. So the scribe said to him, Well, teacher, you’ve spoken the truth, for there’s only one God, and there’s none other but he.

And to love him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbors oneself is listen to this part, more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Who’s saying that? A scribe, a reasoning Jew, a person who it doesn’t say necessarily, remember we have to have necessary inferences. It doesn’t say necessarily that he was his following disciple, but he’s learning. And he didn’t quench that guy’s zeal. He saw that he answered wisely, and he said to him, You’re not far from the kingdom. I take that to mean he basically said, Well, I believe that if we give it time, we give it patience and well continuance in well-doing, he’ll be a follower and a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Almighty God.

3. He Will Bring Forth Justice for Truth

So with Mary of Bethany, he didn’t break the bruised or the broken. And with the fellow in Mark 12, 34, the scribe, he didn’t quench the zeal. But yet, in the context of Isaiah 42, 1 through 3, it says, He will bring forth justice for truth. The context of broke broken reeds and bruised reeds and smoking flax and all that. There’s always context. And what often happens when you’re studying the scriptures with someone is they will basically take a verse out of the context and not clarify what the rest of it is talking about. Jesus Christ will bring forth justice for truth. In Luke chapter 13, verses 22 through 33, let’s turn there together. Luke 13, 22 through 20 through 33. Love here in those pages turning.

I hear that. That’s great. It says, He went through the cities and the villages teaching and journeying. Luke 13, 22. And he was going towards Jerusalem, and one said, Lord, are there few who are saved? What a puzzling question. Here’s Jesus Christ, who has multitudes following him. He has crowds that are so large, the Jewish contingent of leaders are not only dumbfounded and perplexed, they are plain out and out jealous. And here’s a guy who says, Well, won’t you be saved? And Jesus says to them, strive or work hard to enter through the narrow gate. For many I say to you, will seek to enter, but will not be able.

When once the master of the house has risen up and closed the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open for us. And he will answer and say to you, I don’t know you. Where are you from? Then you’ll begin to say, We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets, but he will say, I tell you, I do not know you. Where are you from? Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit in the kingdom of God.

And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last. On that very day, some Pharisees came, saying to him, Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill you. And he said to them, Go tell that fox. Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today, and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected or resurrected. Nevertheless, I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem. He is basically telling these people, I’m gonna do what God wants me to do, and I’m gonna follow the mission he has for me, and I want you to know few will be saved. Because a lot of people will not follow the will of the Lord.

Mark 16, 16, he tells us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He tells us these things. But yet, when we go back to Luke 13, what we just read, look at verse 24. In verse 24, he doesn’t say, Oh, you can’t get into the kingdom. He says, make every effort to enter the narrow gate. What he says make the effort, put forth the commitment, make the decision to enter through the narrow gate. Some people are gonna say, We ate with you, we drank with you, you taught in our streets, and he’ll say, I don’t know you. That’s an interesting one of the interesting passages that talks about justice for truth, is found in Luke 13, where he says in verse 30, indeed, look at verse 30 particularly.

4. A Law of Grace and Truth

There are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last. A lot of the people thought they should have been first. Jesus says they’ll be last. I think often the Pharisees that were particularly rebellious to the teachings of Jesus, they thought they were first. They thought they needed the preeminence, the chief seats. They thought they needed to be up front, and Jesus says they will be last. Jesus was a success at the mission of giving a law of grace and truth. In John chapter 17, he used the phrase, I have accomplished. He had given a law of grace and truth. Hold your bookmarkers if you have them, and I know some of you do, like I’ll take mine and place it there in John 17.

I’m almost there. Not quite there yet. There, poof, now I’m there. And then I go back to John chapter 1 and look at the beginning of John chapter 1, where it says, As many as received him to them, he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. And the word, verse 14, became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. If we ever minimize this verse, we’re in danger. Because this is the embodiment of Jesus’ religious teaching to the world, full of the truth and full of grace.

5. We Dare Not Bruise the Brokenhearted or Quench the Zeal

When we are going about in the community in which we live and we’re trying to teach the gospel, we’re trying to preach the gospel, we dare not bruise the brokenhearted, and we dare not quench the zeal of those that are beginning to materialize their faith and grow and develop in the most holy faith. Jesus Christ often would say things like, uh, a cup of cold water, if they bring it in my name, that’s good. We read from the book of Mark. There’s other passages of scripture where someone would come forth and uh they’d say, Well, we saw him casting out demons in your name, and as two of his disciples would say, Should we send down fire from heaven and consume them? And he’d say, No.

Let them alone. Often Jesus would give grace upon grace. I kind of get the passage that we’re just mentioned, and I kind of get the idea that Jesus basically is thinking in his mind, I don’t know what he’s exactly thinking, but that one day they’ll come around. And he, knowing all things, knowing the future and knowing the present and knowing the past better than all of us, knows that grace needs to abound. When you’re talking to somebody in the community, someone that’s your family or your friend or someone that’s a beloved loved one, and they’re having a struggle, they’re having a challenge, they’re having a burden. Deal with that first. Don’t put your teaching that you’re trying to teach them first before their legitimate struggle that they have.

If I go about in the community, which we have, we have right now three groups that are going out on Tuesday night, Friday, midday, and Saturday afternoon at different coffee shops round about the community. We’ve had uh new studies in each one of those areas this past week. You meet somebody in one of those studies, or someone you’re studying with, and they say, I just lost my job. Um, can you pray for me? And you say, No, no, no. We’re gonna have this Bible right here, we’re gonna study this right here. You go, hold on. I will pray for you in that. And you sit right there, you bow with your head with them, and you pray, and you say, I hope they get a new job.

I hope God takes care of them, and that in their plight, in their predicament, they’ll be able to serve the Lord. They’ll appreciate that, they’ll feel more lifted, and believe it or not, they’ll feel more focused to actually study the word. Jesus gave a lot of grace. But when you give the word of God, by all means, don’t take this word of God and say, well, this person over here came from a Catholic background, and so I’m just gonna gloss over everything he says in the Bible about Peter and Paul being uh equals. Because if you look at the book of Acts, the first half of the book of Acts follows the teachings of Peter. The second half of the book of Acts follows the teachings of Paul.

It’s written by Luke, and through the whole context, it shows neither one are at odds with one another, and neither one of them is superior to one another, and neither does it say in any one of those passages that Peter was the preeminent apostle. Oh no. In one fact, in one place, it even shows where Paul corrected Peter. And he says, You’re right, Paul. You look at that context and you don’t water down the message just because you really care about someone in a certain denomination. Same thing with any other any other passage of scripture. We go to the Bible to let the Bible speak. And Jesus did that with the Pharisees. He did that with the Sadducees, He did that with the scribes, the zealots, and his apostles, and because of that, he had followers that were Simon the Zealot.

A zealot, yes, an insurrectionist against the government was one of his particular followers. But then he also had Levi, Matthew, the tax collector, definitely loathed by his people then as he would be today. He also had who else with him? James and John, sons of Zebedee and Saloon, the sons of thunder. I guess dad or mom had a loud voice. And these are the fishermen children. He had all this motley crew of people together, this ram rabble group. That’s how the Jewish people viewed them. Who did Jesus view them as? Perfectly fine people who have changed, who have reformed, who are no longer living in sin but are living righteous examples of life and staying in Jerusalem, come what may, whatever challenge comes, whatever insurmountable particular thing seems to be able to dishevel the people of God within the city of Jerusalem, they will stand firm, they will stay there amid the dispersion, they will be there amid persecution.

Whatever happens, they will preach the message to God’s people.

And so Jesus says in John chapter 17, in the same passage of scripture that he’s speaking to these apostles with, he basically says, Look, I don’t want everybody to just believe me. I want them to see that you guys have the unity, the peace, the equality, and particularly the unity that shines forth from the same unity I have with God the Father and myself. I want people to believe on me through the name of God, because they see the unity that you all are expressing, so that when they see the unity of the apostles, they see a clarified gospel that doesn’t change the message of truth. And that’s his success. Jesus was a success at the mission of giving a law of grace and truth. Of course he cared, but he also did so with the right fame of mind.

6. Doctrine Matters, With Brotherly Love and Forgiveness

There are a number of passages that talk about a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoking flax he will not quench. And one of the young men that comes to mind is a guy by the name of Nehemiah, who in 444 BC was living at the time of Cyrus’s occupation of the Jewish people, and he goes before Cyrus the King as the cupbearer, the one that is uh the security entourage to test the cups of the king to make sure the king won’t die and that he won’t be poisoned, and he’ll drink his cup to make sure he’s okay, and then he’ll give it to the king. And Nehemiah is standing before the king, and he’s always been in a good attitude and joyous spirits, but right at this particular time he’s sad and sullen, despondent, and the king asks him what ails you, and he responds to him, How could I not be sad when the city of the great King David and the city of mine people is in shambles, the wall is broken down, and I’m sad.

And the king says, Okay, go to Jerusalem, take what you need, gain the funds you might need for the situation to rectify the situation and go build your wall. Now I’ve got a question. If you recognize that is a heathen king seeing a religious person continue in well doing up until a point where he’s very sad. Wouldn’t you gain that people in our community, in our society, in our world today, when they see us with a general tenor of happiness and kindness and joy, camaraderie, and great faith in Jesus, that if they were to see us sullen or sad, they’d immediately look at us and say, What ails thee? It’s an interesting predicament that people need to see Jesus and the spirit of his truth reigning forth through the scriptures in our life.

In Proverbs chapter 17 and 26, and talks about a smoking flax that he will not quench. Proverbs 1726, let’s turn there together. Love the book of Proverbs, read them frequently. And in 1726, it says, to punish the righteous is not good, nor to strike princes for their uprightness. A lot of people, they they do this. They jab at what’s right. If our culture has ever been the culture right now of jabbing at that which is right, it’s now. 200 years ago, it wasn’t like that. 150 years ago, it wasn’t like that. How much did Johnny Carson episode the other day on YouTube where he’s interviewing a preacher? And through the whole thing, he’s just tearing forth, you might make a joke here or there, but for the all intents and purposes, it was just an interview like you might see on a news program in an anchor situation in today’s news if it’s calm.

But then you even take the news situations of news programming today, and it’s jab jab jab. When you look at this particular passage, it’s saying if someone’s good, don’t jab at them. Granted, we have our differences, but civility needs to reign in our nation and from our hearts, and it needs to start first from the people of God. In Acts chapter 18 and verse 26, we can read of an important passage of scripture, Acts 18, 26, wherein it says, so he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. This is a man by the name of Apollos and Apollos, he had a grand uh command of the Old Testament, but he only knew of the baptism of John. He didn’t know that one needed to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus Christ.

And so Aquila and Priscilla heard Apollos, and in verse 26, it says, when they recognize his bold speech in the synagogue, that Priscilla and her husband Aquila took Apollos aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. But here’s the thing they did it aside, they brought him aside. They encouraged his zeal. If there was ever one who was zealous, it was Apollos. A mighty man, bold in the scriptures, had a lot of zeal, but he still needed a nudge. He still needed a transformation, if you will, to preach and teach that which was right. And he needed someone like the couple, the husband and wife team of Aquila and Priscilla to help. Doctrine matters, young people. And this couple didn’t just say, oh, well, he’s close enough.

He believes in the death, burial, and resurrection, so he’s saved. No. He needed to preach the way of God more accurately. And he needed himself to be a Christian in the right way. What about Philemon? You guys familiar with Onisimus and Philemon? A passage of scripture we don’t often talk about very much. Let’s turn in our scriptures to Philemon. Titus Philemon, Hebrews James. As you go through the scriptures, you might kind of thumble and fumble through those pages because it’s only 25 verses long. The pages are sticking, I know. Mine were too. So when we look at Philemon, he’s basically writing this book on behalf of a guy named Onesimus. Onesimus was a runaway slave, perhaps a thief, and not a very good guy in Philemon’s house.

In ancient times, if someone stole from you and you were their slave owner, you’d probably die. That’s probably going to be your punishment. But in a very tender and full of grace and truth attitude, the runaway, Onisimus, became a Christian. And Paul says, any debt Onisimus owes. Paul said, put it on my account. Brotherly love and forgiveness needs to be that which shines forth in this situation. And he tells us in verse 11, he once was unprofitable for you, but now he’s profitable for you and me. If you’ve ever felt unprofitable, if you’ve ever felt like what you do isn’t important. Here’s an apostle who’s saying, a runaway slate is not only important to the master of the slave and should be re sent back to him with great comfort and not pain, he’s also useful to one of God’s very own apostles.

And then he says in verse 12, I’m sending him back. Receive him, that is mine own heart. Here’s an apostle telling someone, receive another brother in Christ as my own heart. Then look at verse 18 through 19. He says in verse 18, if he’s wronged you, if he owes anything, put it on my account. I, Paul, am writing with my own hand. Remember, Paul may have been nearly blind. This may be one of the smallest letters he’s written, because perhaps it wasn’t written by his Emanuensis Tertius, which is mentioned at the last chapter of the book of Romans, who wrote out and inscribed the book of Romans. It may not be written by a secretarial type of penmanship, it may be written from the direct hand of Paul, and he’s saying, I’m writing to you, I will repay, not to mention that you owe me your own self besides.

But meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be granted to you. Like a little jab in the side. He’s going, You better be good to this guy, but I’m going to come visit. So let’s all be at peace. I don’t want there to be a challenge and some sort of uh tension here. Here’s a guy who once was bad, did bad things, but he’s repented, he’s become a Christian, and now he wants to serve the Lord. And Apostle Paul, nourished in faith and doctrine and teaching, says, A smoking flax I will not quench, and a bruised reed I will not break. The slave owner, the bruised reed who had pain, who had sorrow over something that was taken, he’s not going to hurt him at all.

But the smoking flax, the zealous young Christian that’s just now starting out in the faith, he’s not going to quench his zeal either. He’s going to get the older to work with the younger. He’s going to get the one issue to work with the other issue and bring them together so that there’s peace, unity, and camaraderie amid a situation where in that particular household it was very tense. The apostle Paul tells us in 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 6 that this needs to be the mindset that we have in various particular ways. He says, if you instruct the brethren in these things, this is Paul writing to Timothy, you’ll be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which we have carefully followed.

Conclusion

Justice for truth, not changing the word, sticking with the power of God and letting it work, not with sophistry, not with some sort of uh show, but looking to the word of God for its power and letting it ring true. The apostles brought justice for truth, not changing the word, keeping it Christ-centered. And they said very clearly, the words of Isaiah 42, 3. Let’s conclude with those this morning. Let’s go to Isaiah 42, verse 3, and read together. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoking flax he will not quench. He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged till he is established justice in all the earth and the coastland shall wait for his law. You want to be a Christian?

If you are a Christian, part of the challenge of being a Christian is once you become a Christian, you work heartily towards rejoicing with those who rejoice, and weeping with those who weep, and being all things to all men that by all means we might save some. And although I just stated Isaiah 42, 3 would be my concluding scripture, I do want to remind us of the Hebrew writer who says, strengthen the feeble knees, strengthen the hands that are down and uplift and uphold those who need it. What if you’re not a Christian? Well, first of all, look at this from the other angle. If we looked at all these scriptures that we’ve looked at as to what we’re trying to do once we’re in the faith, make a decision to say, well, that’s the type of faith I want to be in.

That’s the type of kingdom I want to be in. A kingdom that gives justice to truth, it gives grace to people, that stands up for what is true, that believes in the things of grace and truth, following after our Lord of grace and truth, Jesus the Savior. And I want to be in a kingdom that also recognizes our work in the kingdom is to uphold the weak, strengthen the weak, and when people have zeal for wanting to do what’s right, encouraging that. It takes transformation, it takes diligence, but it is the responsibility of the people of God.

You need to hear the word of God and believe it, for faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. You need to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God and repent of your sins. To say, get out sin and get in, Jesus. You need to confess the name of Christ, for with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. You need to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins, for baptism doth now save us. And Acts 22, 16, it says, why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized. Wash away your sins. Calling on the name of the Lord. We can help you do that. Won’t you come forward as we stand and sing?