Or if you take your Bibles and
turn with me to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. We'll be looking at verse 20,
and I've entitled this, A Message for Bruised Reeds. A Message
for Bruised Reeds. The scripture here says, A bruised
reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench. till he send forth judgment unto
victory." Now, every child of God knows something of our perfect
weakness. Every child of God knows something
that we, by nature, are perfectly weak. In ourselves, we find no
strength to sustain our faith and love to God. Now let the
self-righteous man boast if he will. Let him boast in his will,
let him boast in his power to keep himself. But as for true
believers in Christ, we know this, we have not the power to
keep ourselves, to sustain ourselves. Matter of fact, weakness is not
for us just a doctrine to be understood. Matter of fact, perfect
weakness is our daily experience. We are constantly made aware
of our perfect weakness. But I tell you, even this knowledge
is not perfect. We have not yet fully understood
how weak and feeble we are. This is why the Holy Spirit must
continually teach us concerning our weakness. It must be learned. And how is it learned? It's learned
through sorrow and pain. It's learned through dark providences. It's learned through grief and
persecution, affliction, both inward and outward affliction
are necessary for this purpose to manifest our weakness. Now, why would the Lord do that?
Why would the Lord continually expose our weakness to us for
this one purpose? Listen. To expose His strength. To show us His strength. You see, these two are related. The more you understand your
weakness, the more He displays His strength. Isn't that what
happened with the Apostle Paul? When he was afflicted with that
thorn in the flesh, our Lord said this, My strength is made
perfect when... If He exposes our weakness, this
is the reason that He might display His strength. You might have
courage. If you are perfectly weak this morning, understand
this, His purpose is not to destroy you in weakness, but rather to
display His strength. He is going to display His strength. This is encouragement for the
weak, that He's going to display His strength. And get this, the
greater our weakness, the greater his strength. The greater our
weakness, the greater his strength. Now, in this text this morning,
I want to talk to weak and tried believers. Because that's how
weakness is manifest, by trials, by difficulties and troubles.
And I want to speak to those who are here manifest as bruised
reeds and smoking flax. Now, The Lord here is speaking
to bruised reeds. And He gives us comfort to those
whose faith is just about to be extinguished. The smoking
flax has to do with the faith being so low. It's not that our
faith is aflame. Our faith is just smoky. And
here it is. You're not just a reed. You're
a bruised reed. Here's our comfort right here.
He says, I will not break the wreath, and I will not quench
the flax. I will not cut off your life,
and I will not put out your faith, however so small. Now then, I want us to see three
things this morning. First of all, the character.
of the tried Christian here manifest by bruised reeds and smoking
flax. And then I want us to see the
will of Christ. What is the will of Christ toward
these tried believers? And thirdly, I want us to see
the hope of Christ, the hope of Christ's victory for such
tried believers. So let's see these things. First
of all, the character of the tried, first a bruised reed.
A bruised reed. Can you think of anything weaker
than a reed? A reed is nothing more than a
plant. It is a hollow plant. There's
nothing in it. It's hollow. It grows up out
of the mud and it is easily broken. It's not an oak. An oak is one
that has roots that go down into the earth and whose branches
spread out across the sky. God does not liken you to an
oak. He likens you to a reed, a reed, weakest and feeblest
of all plants. We truly are feeble and frail
sinners. We are totally dependent upon
the care and grace and love of God to sustain us and keep us,
otherwise we would be easily cut down or consumed. Easily. How easily does it take
a wind to break a reed? How easily does it take a fire
to consume a reed? A reed is a very lowly and despicable
plant. You notice how God gives us lowly
characters to describe us? Sheep. Here, reeds. It's a despicable plant. It has none of the strength or
the ability of the oak, but there's one thing it has in common with
the oak. Listen, the only thing a reed
and oak have in common is that they're both living. Isn't that
right? They're both living plants. And behold the reed, its root
lies in a bed of slime." That's where reeds grow. They grow in
the ditch, and they're surrounded by mud and muck and slime. It's rooted in the slime. It's
surrounded by the slime. It's surrounded by the mud. But
listen, the reed is also distinct from the mud, isn't it? The reed
is in the mud, but the reed is not the mud. And such is the life of every
believer in Jesus Christ. We are surrounded by the slime,
the mud of our old nature, our old corrupt nature. And yet by
the new birth, we are made distinct from it. The scripture says we
are created, that new man is created after God in true holiness. And so as you would see it, we
are the reed. Our nature is as the mud. And
look now in the mire and see that stem. There's a big ditch
and there's a slime and all of a sudden you see this little
plant pop up out of the mud. You see that reed begin to grow,
a small stem pushes forth to the daylight. That seed that
was buried in unseen now shoots out of the ground that it might
have life. It manifests that it's alive.
That's how it was with us, wasn't it? When the grace of God came
and planted the seed in our soul, we sprang forth out of the mud, out of the vile nature that surrounded
us. The life God had planted in our
souls, in spite of our flesh and old man, God lifted that
infant head out of the mud and basked in the Son of Righteousness. We believed on the Son of God
by the grace of God. We saw Christ, and by this we
had life. I tell you, there's nothing more
blessed than to see a new believer, isn't it? Sometimes I envy new believers,
right? You see that joy, that zeal,
that fervency. You remember what it was like
when the burden rolled off your back and you were free. It was
springtime. It was springtime. You had long
struggled with the waves of sin and guilt, and then Christ set
you free. Like old Pilgrim, that burden
rolled away into the tomb. and he was free. We escaped the
corruption of the flesh through Christ. Now see that reed there
in the springtime, it's full of life, it's full of sap of
the gospel. It flows so freely, and you know
what? We supposed that springtime would
last forever, didn't we? And I know at times, even in
our Christian experience, we go through such seasons of joy,
don't we? I mean, I remember when I was
preparing this, I remember when I became a pastor here. I mean,
I don't understand, at that moment, when I was here for the first
time, the grass was greener. I looked at the trees and those
leaves were so green and plush, It was springtime, not just outside,
but it was in my soul. I felt springtime. It was joy
and peace. But we know this, our elims don't
last long. God gives us those palm trees
and those springtimes, and they last only a moment, don't they?
And pretty soon, springtime turns to the drought of summer. Summer
turns to the the frigid air of winter. The season of springtime
changes, let time of trial and temptation take hold of that
feeble reed, and what happens? It becomes bruised. It becomes
bruised. The reed that grew out of the
mire and mud into the light, something has changed now. Look
at your text. We are not just a reed. We are
not just a feeble plant. What are we? We become bruised
reeds. Bruised reeds. Imagine that reed
standing up and something has happened that causes it to tilt
and there's a crack in it. It seems as though at any moment
it's about to fall away. What causes the change? What
causes the believer to be bruised? Well, there are many things that
caused a believer to be bruised. Consider the first thing that
caused our bruising was the law. The law. We were at one time
religious. Many of us were religious. All
men are religious. Self-righteous. We once thought
this. How foolish is this now? We thought
this, that the law was a means by which we could access God.
We thought the law should draw us near to God. If I could just
obey it, if I could just do better, if I could just turn over a new
leaf, if I could just stop lying and stop stealing and stop doing
this, then that would draw me closer to God. That's what the
natural man thinks. But once we were quickened by
the Spirit, the law we found was not a friend. The law was our enemy. It was
not a means of life, but a means of condemnation. Paul said this,
I was alive without the law once. But what did he say? When the
commandment came, what commandment was that? It was the commandment
of life. When the commandment of life came, when God commanded
the light to shine out of darkness and shine in his heart to give
him the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ, what happened? When that command came, sin revived. The law actually served its purpose. Sin revived. That's all it can
do. It can revive sin. I was reading it this morning.
Our natural man is like an ant nest with a stone on it. You look at it, and it seems
dead, it seems undisturbed. But you remove the stone, what
happens? The ants begin to... That's the
corruption of our nature. God removes the stone and the
corruptions pour out like ants. Sin revived, and what? I died. I died. And the commandment that
I thought would ordain to life, I found this, to be death. The
law became not a friend but death. It was the law that first bruised
us. So that we should see this, by
the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. No man is ever saved by the law
and no man is ever helped to God by the law. And I know this,
you listen, many believers are still bruised by this because
they still try to take that law to help them to God. And I'm
telling you this, it'll only bruise you. It'll only hurt you. It can't help you. The law was
never a means or a rule of life for the believer, never intended
to be our rule of life, never. You see, these aren't the ten
suggestions, are they? Scripture says if you take one
law, you have to take all of the law. You can't pick and choose. The law that bruised our Savior. This is where our hope is, isn't
it? That the law also bruised Him. When sin was found in our
Savior, when God imputed our sins to Him, the law came and
stricked justice. But it didn't just bruise Him,
it cut Him off. He died in our stead so as to
satisfy the law. Satisfy the justice of God. And
I tell you, if there will ever be life in a sinner, we have
to be bruised by this. We have to see that there's no
hope of saving ourselves by the law. So that bruised us. Second
thing that bruises us is this, afflictions. Afflictions bruise
us. Every believer, now you listen
to this, every believer must pass through afflictions. In
Acts chapter 14, the Apostle Paul was confirming the souls
of those disciples and exhorting them to continue. Now, why would
he exhort them to continue believing in Christ? Because of this. We,
through much tribulation, should enter the Kingdom of God. Believers,
we are afflicted people. We're afflicted in our bodies,
we're afflicted by our families, we're afflicted in our minds,
in our hearts, either because of sin or because of the providence
of God. Sometimes we are denied the sweet
presence of our Lord and Savior. This is affliction, isn't it?
These are the afflictions we face. We have trials. that are like ocean waves, constantly
billows of trouble rolling over our soul. This is what David
said, he said, I remembered God and was troubled, Psalm 77. I
complained and my spirit was overwhelmed. Have you ever been
overwhelmed? Have you ever been overwhelmed
by providence, dark providences? And not just one, but they're
just constantly rolling over you. as so you cannot stop them. They're constant, perpetual troubles. What do these troubles do to
the believer? That weak reed. Imagine a reed being hit over
and over by the waves of the ocean. They bruise us. Our cheerful countenance and
boldness of spirit are brought low so that we're not able to
look up. We are a bent over reed. These
trials and troubles, though, as I have this promise, they
will never break the reed. They will never break the believer. We will never be brought to despair
so as to leave all faith in Christ. But these trials and providences
do hurt God's people. They are painful, friends. Let us be sure that all our afflictions
have a purpose. This is important. If you are
in affliction, we must keep this in mind, that God is not causing
these billows to roll over us for no reason. They have a purpose. They have a purpose. I'll tell
you this, our Lord, when He was on the earth, what was His title? He was a man of sorrows, and
listen, acquainted with grief. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. He was no stranger to affliction. He was no stranger. He was very
intimate with it. He said this, the reproach has
broken my heart and I am full of heaviness. Have you been full
of heaviness? He said, I looked for some to
take pity, but there was none. Have you been left alone? Have
you ever been left alone with no one to help? So was he. The Son of God, listen. Listen
what the Scripture says. What did this affliction do to
the Son of God? The Scripture says that by his
suffering, he learned obedience. by the things he suffered. If
the Son of God should have fellowship with suffering and affliction,
so as he should learn obedience, how much more so the sons of
God, his children? Do you long to be closer to Christ?
That's a serious question. Do you really want to be closer. Do you weep because of your distance
and lack of divine presence? Then consider the way in which
Christ will withdraw you is this, affliction. Affliction It is
the vehicle by which He draws us closer to Himself. Remember,
I told you at the beginning, unless your weakness is exposed
through affliction, trouble, trials, you would not know anything
of His strength. If you are to be made to know
more of His broken heart, then you must in some measure also
have a broken heart. To be close with a man of sorrows,
you too must be a man of sorrows. I tell you, don't pray for affliction. Don't pray for it. You shouldn't.
But if you want to be near to Christ, you will experience it. And this bruises the believer.
It is very painful. Third thing is temptation. Temptation
bruises the believer. Why should such powerful and
painful temptations fall upon God's children? Why does God
allow these trials and temptations to come upon his people? Well, it's because the reed is
too strong and needs to be taught his weakness. How often have
we been so proud, so full of pride and self-sufficiency self-strength,
self-sustaining. We had so many crutches, so many
things we were leaning on to keep us up. And so then God sends in these
trials, these temptations, these testings. And what do these temptations
do? They reveal the evils of our
hearts. These evils that are unnoticed
and unknown until temptation comes. David's adulterous and murderous
heart was buried unless he had been tempted. It would have never
been known to him or anyone else had he not been tested. Hezekiah's pride should have
been thought to be pious. When he showed that kingdom off
to the Babylonians, remember, that was a source of pride. You thought, well, he was praising
God. Look at all God did. It wasn't. Hezekiah was saying, look at
all I did. Jonah's rebellion and hatred
for the Gentiles had not come to light had God not pressed
him. And so it is with us. Temptation
does not put sin in our hearts. You know that? It just reveals
it. God is by temptation revealing
what's already there and hidden to you. Our nature is like fuel,
and temptation is the fire. If they're left alone, you put
a thing of gasoline over here, and leave it alone. What's going
to happen? Nothing. But once the fire meets
the fuel, then comes the explosion. So it is with temptation and
our nature. Therefore, we should pray, lead
us not into temptation. Why? We're weak. We can't handle
it ourselves. He said, watch and pray that
you enter not into temptation. Where there is no sin in our
old nature, there would be no temptation, right? Our Lord was
never tempted. You got it? It was sin. He said,
which of you convinces me of sin? Why? There was no sin in
Him. Can you say that about you? Can I say that about me? No. We're full of sin. And so
temptation exposes the evils of our hearts. And when that
temptation is exposed, and I'm not talking about the commission
of it, I'm talking about just the exposure of it. To know your
guilt, to know the shame of your evil nature, is that not bruising
to you? It bruises us to know that our
nature is so vile and so wicked. Do you know if that's exactly
what The apostle felt when he said, O wretched man that I am. Was he out there sinning? No,
he was just being exposed. O wretched man that I am, who
should deliver me from the body of this death? This is a bruising,
isn't it? To know the vileness of our nature. The fourth thing that bruises
us is Satan. Oftentimes God allows the enemy
of our souls to bruise us. to bruise us. The first gospel
message said this, the seed of the woman shall crush the head
of the serpent, and listen, it says, and he shall bruise his
heel. Now listen, if he was allowed
to bruise the Son of God, how much more is he permitted to
bruise his people? In that passage I mentioned earlier,
The Apostle Paul said, Satan buffeted me. That means he hit
me with the fist. He hit me with the fist. I want you to know that our enemy
is a professional at assaulting souls. He is. His blows are not light and gentle,
but with strength and skill he knows exactly where to hit. He hits us with such thoughts
of leaving Christ and of Christ leaving us. He breeds such thoughts of sin
as to bruise our tender conscience and accuse us before God. But such wounds and temptations
have two effects. This is why He is allowed. This
is why He is allowed to enter. He is allowed to enter for this
purpose so that pride and self-righteousness should be crushed and that the heart should be
made tender." Bruised. Isn't that what he did to Job?
God said this, have you considered my servant Job? There's none
like him in all the earth. The man that fears God and eschews
evil. And Satan, does he worship God? Does he love you for naught?
You take away all that he has and he'll curse you. What did
God do? Take it. And when he didn't, what did
he say? Ah, skin for skin, if you just take his hell, he'll
curse you. He did, but what was the end
result? What was the end result of this
bruising of Job? Behold, I am vile." He was bruised so that pride
should be crushed and a tender heart. And you know what happened,
Job, in his latter days, was blessed better than the first. So Satan is allowed to bruise.
And this is another bruise that I think is most frequent. It's
not just the temptation and the exposure of evil. It is sin itself. Sin itself causes us to be bruised. When we are tempted, it exposes
the evil of our heart, but how much more bruised when we're
entangled in sin? When we are overtaken by sin
and lust, how much does this guilt begin to burden our hearts? The consequences of sin are sharp
and piercing. Guilt lies hard and heavy upon
us and cuts us so deep that we bleed in the very pores of our
souls. I want to show you a man who
was bruised by sin. Go to Psalm 51. Tell me if you have any experience
here. Psalm chapter 51. A psalm of David, when Nathan
the prophet came to him after he had gone to Bathsheba, after
he had been exposed, and Nathan said this, Thou art the man. David wrote this in feeling his
guilt and shame, he said, Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to Thy loving kindness, according to the multitude of Thy tender
mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgression
and my sin is ever before me. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest, and clear when thou judgest.
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
you." Don't you see he's saying this? It's my sin. I have sinned. I only long to be cleansed. I
only long to be healed. And this is the cause. I was
shapen in iniquity. You see, David is no longer proud. He's not asking God for mercy
based on what he has done for God. He's basing it on total
mercy. I'm a sinner by nature. Behold,
you desire truth in the inward parts and the hidden parts, thou
shalt make me to know wisdom. Listen, if I'm going to have
any understanding at all, you got to make it. You desire truth,
but you have to make it. Purge me with hyssop. That has to do with the atonement,
the sprinkling of that blood upon the mercy seat with that
plant, hyssop. Be perpetuitous to me. And I shall be clean. Wash me
and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness,
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy
face from my sins and blot out my iniquities. Create in me a
clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast
me not away from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit
from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation. Uphold
me with Thy free spirit. Is that not a bruised wreath? Is he not drooping? Is he not
bowing? Isn't this what sin causes the
believer to do? to bow and seek mercy? Have you sinned against God in
such a way that you have caused to feel the guilt and shame? How easily are we blown and tossed
about by waves. How easily are we bruised by
our souls. Now listen to this, you bruised
reeds. This is the way and the path
in which the Lord now will reveal His power and grace. It is by
our own experience of sorrows that we are made to close with
the man of sorrows. Let us forsake then our views
that we should be getting better and better and holier and holier.
Instead, understand this, we are made to know more of our
weakness by these bruises. These have purpose so that we
should see the strength. Now the second character, I'll
move really quick with these second characters, smoking flax.
What is this? Smoking flax, flax is a toad.
In other words, it's a product of the hemp that never really
is able to catch fire. You light it, and all it can
do is smoke. It can't really set flame. It
has no ability to burn with fire. It just smokes. This smoking flax is the life
and work of the Holy Spirit upon our hearts. This smoking flax
is the life of God within that fire which is kindled from the
coal from the altar. Now I know this, every believer
desires to burn with faith and love, don't you? You know those
disciples when they said, did not our hearts burn with Well,
he's fake, by the way. Isn't that what you desire? You
desire a flame of love, a flame of faith. But because of the wicked nature
and vile corruptions of the old man, that faith and love is only
left smoking. It can't really be what we desire
it to be. It can't be a flame. It can only
smolder. Believer in Christ, I know you
would have these things, but behold, our sin and unbelief,
our fear, our doubts, our lust, our afflictions and affections
for the things of this world snuff out the flame of faith
and love and joy. And all we're left with is smoking
flax. That's what we are. Nothing more
than a smoldering ball of flax. What heaps of rubbish overspread
our inward life, the cares and family, business, evil thoughts,
sensual desires suffocate the flame, and we cry like Paul,
wretched man that I am. Oh, how I need for the Spirit
to blow upon this flame so that it might grow brighter Oh, that God would send His Spirit
to blow upon my heart, that He would burn away the corruption
of the flesh. But herein is my hope. Even though
I'm nothing more than a bruised reed and smoking flax, here is
my hope. God swears I will never break
you off and I will never put you out. This is the gracious
will. The second thing, the gracious
will of Christ. I will not break you off. I will
not quench your faith. You weak and wounded believer,
Jesus knows your frame and remembers who you are. You're but dust. Are you this bruised reed ready
to give up? Are you the smoking flax ready
to quench your faith? Look now and see that the will
of Christ is this, I will never cast you off. We know that a brewed reed deserves
nothing more than to be broken off. If you pass by a brewed reed,
the temptation is easily, look at that thing, snap it off. You
know what you do to your plants that have these, we used to have
roses out there, and Cheryl would go out there and see the little
twigs on the side that weren't really green, they'd brown, she'd
pluck them off, you'd prune them, get them off, why? They're worthless. They're cumbering the plant,
they're not helping. So it's easy to think that we
should be cut off. A bruised reed is of no value.
There's no flower or fruit in it. What use is it? But see the
great love and tenderness of Christ. I will not break at all. When we are bruised, we come
to Christ like that Syrophoenician woman. Remember, she came, Lord,
have mercy upon me. Have mercy upon me. The disciple
says, send her away. She's worthless. She's a Gentile.
She's not worth your time. Send her away. And she kept pursuing
the Lord. She said, have mercy on me. And
you know, he bruised her even worse. He turned around and said,
is it meat to give the children's bread to dogs? Can you imagine
the Lord Jesus saying that? He did. He said, you're a dog.
Why should I even pay attention to you? Oh, how bruised she was. You see how her faith was almost
extinguished. But was it? Why did she continue? Why was she able to say this?
Truth, Lord. Even the dog received a crumb
from the master's table. Why was she allowed to say that?
Because of this, a bruised knee I will not break, and smoking
flax I will not quench. This is the will of Christ. It
is the will of Christ that you not be broken off. That's why.
Jesus was never willing to cut her off, but display her weakness
and his strength. If you are now bruised by affliction,
temptation, by Satan, ready to perish, remember the man of sorrows
was in all points tempted like you without sin. He is touched
with the feelings of our infirmities and understands your weakness. And this is your hope right now.
I will not cast you off. In fact, he is using the bruising
to draw you closer. The smoking flax he will not
quench. Remember, behold, our corruption,
our lusts are strong. Our thoughts are full of filth
and hurtful passions. Our hearts and minds are cold
and indifferent toward the things of God. And our flesh would surely
have extinguished our spiritual life long ago. Except for this
one thing. He said, smoking flags I will
not call. Why are you still here? After all the bruising, after all the corruption, after
all the sin, after all the temptation to leave, have you not been tempted
to leave? Have you not looked at the world
like Asaph and said, Why do the wicked prosper and the righteous
suffer? We're tempted to leave. Why do
we not leave? To whom shall we go? Is there
any place to go? Is there any place you want to
go if you're bruised? If your faith is on the brink
being extinguished. Is there anything else but Christ? There's no place to go. There's
no one to have but Him. Do you see why you were bruised?
Do you see why you're allowed to almost extinguish and go out? so that the will of the Savior
might be revealed to you. I am not going to leave you. I will never leave you. It is simply by amazing grace
that I'm still here. that I still believe, that I still love Christ. And that's my hope. You remember
the illustration given in Pilgrim's Progress, in the Interpreter's
House? There was a man, there was a
fire against the wall, and there was a man throwing water on the
fire. But every time he threw water on the fire, The fire got
bigger. It wouldn't go out. He couldn't
extinguish it. No matter how much water he poured on the fire,
it wouldn't go out. And Pilgrim said, what is this?
And the interpreter says, come over to the other side. And on
the other side of the wall, you got a man pouring oil into the
fire. You see, Satan will always try
to extinguish this smoking flax. He will always try to extinguish
the flame of our love and our faith. But praise God, the Spirit
is on the other side, pouring oil. The Spirit, Christ is pouring
the Spirit into the flame, so it never dies. You wonder why
you're still here? Because of Christ. That's why
you're here. Because He wills for you to be
here. Because He wills that your faith continue. You know, that's
the evidence of true faith, isn't it? True faith always endures. Jesus said, He that liveth and
believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Believe
that? I believe that. So then if you've ever wandered
so far and are so cold and dead, have you ever been so stupid
and hardened in your heart? Have you ever... If there's but one spark of grace
that begun by the Spirit of God, this is our hope. He that hath
begun a good work in you shall perform it on the day of Jesus
Christ. So the last thing is this, hope. You've seen who you are, you're
the bruised reed, you're the smoking flax. You see the will
of Christ is this, I'm not gonna cut you off. No matter how bad
you are, no matter how far you've gone, no matter how cold or indifferent
you are, I will not cut you off and your faith will endure. And
then, therefore, this is our hope. even the victory of Christ. Look what he says. He says, I
will not, a smoking flax, a bruised reed I will not break, a smoking
flax he shall not quench till he set forth judgment unto victory. What is this judgment? We know
this, that believers never shall come under the judgment of God
or condemnation of God. But this rather is the judgment
of conscience. that is on the heart of the believer.
When he is bruised, when he is about to be extinguished, what
comes on us? We feel the judgment upon our
conscience. When the believer sins, it's
always the Spirit of God who brings it to our conscience.
They're the child of God that is brought to anger and
rage. The other is allured by lust. It is the Spirit of God
that will, at the appointed time, bring us to the bar of judgment
so as to make us feel our sin. And He does so that we might
see the corruptions of our flesh and have well nigh extinguished
our faith and love. He will bring our souls even
to the dust. Why? He shall set forth judgment unto
us. Victory. Victory. So sending
judgment and conviction always points us to what? The victory
of Christ. The victory of Christ. Are you
bruised? Here's the end of Christ's will.
Our victory is sure. Our victory is sure. Believer,
I know this, the battle constantly rages in you. You are in constant
warfare with yourself. The enemy seeks to cut us off.
The flesh longs to smother our faith. Our sin and temptation
bruises our soul. But what power do we have to
win the battle? What power do we have in this
matter of temptation to overcome sin and subdue sin? We are weakness. We have no power. where nothing
but broods, reeds, and piles of smoking flax, what is our
hope? Our hope is this, that Christ
will never cut us off. Now, how do you know He'll never
cut you off? How do you know He shall be successful in His
will? I mean, you think about it. How
many things do you will to do and are not successful? Now,
you have family, you love them, And you say, I will never cut
you off. And yet, we know this, many times
our family cuts us off, or we have no choice but to cut them
off. But Christ, the reason His will
will be accomplished is simply this, because of His victory. Because that sin that bruised
you, That unbelief, that fear, that
doubt. Listen, he took that in himself
and God punished him in our stead. So where then is the sin that
bruises you? Where is the unbelief? Where
is the fear? Where is the doubt? I'll tell
you this, Christ has removed our sin from us as far as the
east is from the west. Scripture says that it pleased
the Lord to bruise him and put him to grief. When he shall make
his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. You see, victory. Victory! Our life will never be cut off,
our flame will never go out, simply because Christ has fully
redeemed us. fully atoned for all our sins. And let this ring in your ear,
the bruised reed he will not break, the smoking flax he will
not quench. And even though he sets forth
judgment into our conscience, this is our hope, even the victory
of Christ over sin and death and hell and Satan. Victory. He that hath begun a good work
in you shall perform it, no matter your bruising. That's only meant to show you
your weakness in his strength. No matter the corruptions of
your nature or the strength of your foes who try to put your
faith out, he will accomplish the work of grace he has begun
I like this, who shall stay his hand for saying him what doest
thou? If he willed not to cut you off,
he won't cut you off. If he willed that your faith
not go out, it won't go out. So then if you're bruised and
broken, the healing is in the victory. The victory. Look to Christ. And you know
what? How many times has He healed
you? You've been bruised. How many times has He healed
your bruising? Restored you? You suppose He won't do it this
time? He will. Our gracious Father, bless the
word to your people. Forgive us our sins. I pray that
you'd be with those who are suffering in the body and mind. Father,
that you would, by your word, give them comfort that you will
not leave them. You will not forsake them. I
pray, Father, you'd forgive us and lead us. I pray in Jesus'
name.