1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:03,000 Let’s pray together. 2 00:00:03,000 –> 00:00:09,320 Father, we’ve come to the place of worship. 3 00:00:09,320 –> 00:00:13,400 We’ve opened our hearts to you. 4 00:00:13,400 –> 00:00:22,340 We have heard the Scripture, and it’s been impressed upon our minds and our hearts. 5 00:00:22,340 –> 00:00:27,900 You speak in and through all these things, and we ask that you will minister deeply to 6 00:00:28,059 –> 00:00:35,380 us in the preaching of the Word now, and as we gather around the table. 7 00:00:35,380 –> 00:00:43,599 You know our need, and we desire to know your grace. 8 00:00:43,599 –> 00:00:50,900 Draw near by your Spirit and do the work that only you can do, for your own praise and glory, 9 00:00:51,320 –> 00:00:56,139 And these things we ask together in the name of Jesus, Amen. 10 00:00:56,139 –> 00:01:03,139 Well now, the message today is the last in our series entitled Repentance, the Hidden 11 00:01:06,160 –> 00:01:12,419 Path to a Transformed Life. And we’ve been learning together that repentance 12 00:01:12,419 –> 00:01:17,139 is turning from as much as you know of your sin to give as much as you know of yourself 13 00:01:17,180 –> 00:01:23,019 to as much as you know of your God. And that means that in its very nature, repentance 14 00:01:23,019 –> 00:01:30,019 is something that continues and grows and deepens throughout the entire life of a Christian 15 00:01:30,680 –> 00:01:35,540 believer. Now, that raises a question that will focus 16 00:01:35,540 –> 00:01:42,540 our time together this morning and it’s simply this. Are you satisfied with your repentance? 17 00:01:43,379 –> 00:01:50,379 Are you satisfied with your repentance? Now, if you are a true Christian, your answer 18 00:01:54,940 –> 00:02:01,940 to that question must be no, because it is in the very nature of repentance that it continues 19 00:02:02,599 –> 00:02:08,779 throughout a Christian’s life, that it advances in our experience. So if you’re satisfied 20 00:02:08,880 –> 00:02:15,880 with your repentance, you’ve not understood what repentance is, or you’re not yet a Christian. 21 00:02:15,880 –> 00:02:22,880 There’s more of God, you’ll say, that I want to discover, if you’re a real believer, there’s 22 00:02:23,240 –> 00:02:30,240 more of sin that I still want to conquer, and there’s more of myself that I still want 23 00:02:30,919 –> 00:02:37,919 to offer to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. A true Christian is never satisfied with his 24 00:02:38,619 –> 00:02:44,919 or her repentance. And so that leads me to a second question that’s very important. How 25 00:02:44,919 –> 00:02:51,919 then do you avoid being crushed? Because that’s where we might be in danger of going. 26 00:02:54,380 –> 00:03:01,139 I think we’ve needed this series. I’ve felt God stirring my own heart, challenging, searching, 27 00:03:01,860 –> 00:03:08,860 many have spoken of a sense of God speaking in these days. But whenever God is at work, 28 00:03:10,660 –> 00:03:17,100 we need to be aware of what our enemy has as it were up his sleeve. 29 00:03:17,100 –> 00:03:24,100 And when you begin to get serious about repentance, about really pursuing this hidden path to 30 00:03:24,160 –> 00:03:29,460 a transformed life, when you find the path, Satan will seek to come to you this way. He’ll 31 00:03:29,679 –> 00:03:36,679 say now, wait a minute. Your sins are too great and your wounds are too deep and your faith 32 00:03:37,339 –> 00:03:44,339 is too small. Satan is the great accuser and he will tell you that the hidden path to a 33 00:03:45,339 –> 00:03:51,800 transformed life is somehow beyond you and you need to know how to answer him. You need 34 00:03:51,800 –> 00:03:58,800 to know how to pursue repentance in a way that you are not crushed on the path. 35 00:03:59,940 –> 00:04:06,520 And that is our focus and it is a very important one in this last study in our series today. 36 00:04:06,520 –> 00:04:11,320 Maybe you can feel this battle going on in some degree in your own soul already. Do you 37 00:04:11,320 –> 00:04:16,820 find yourself sometimes saying why after all the privileges that I have had am I such a 38 00:04:16,820 –> 00:04:22,959 weak, pathetic, ineffective, Christian? Do you ever find yourself saying that? Why with 39 00:04:23,140 –> 00:04:29,700 all my opportunities have I not grown more than I have? And you know maybe this is one 40 00:04:29,700 –> 00:04:34,779 reason why we instinctively shy away from the subject of repentance because we feel 41 00:04:34,779 –> 00:04:41,239 that it might leave us crushed. And maybe some of us are there right now. Why am I not 42 00:04:41,239 –> 00:04:48,239 a better man? Why am I not a more godly woman? Why am I such a half-hearted Christian? And 43 00:04:49,100 –> 00:04:56,160 you feel crushed. Now that’s where David was in Psalm 51 and 44 00:04:56,160 –> 00:05:01,559 verse 8. And I’d encourage you to turn to Psalm 51 if you would. We’re going to be there 45 00:05:01,559 –> 00:05:08,559 and also in Isaiah chapter 42. We begin in Psalm 51 though and verse 8, David says, let 46 00:05:10,339 –> 00:05:17,339 me hear joy and gladness. Will you restore the joy to me again? And then he says this, 47 00:05:18,320 –> 00:05:25,320 let the bones you have crushed rejoice. The bones you have crushed. Who crushed him? Well 48 00:05:30,700 –> 00:05:37,700 he’s speaking to God, isn’t he? God crushed him. Let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 49 00:05:37,940 –> 00:05:44,940 You have crushed, rejoice. God crushed him over his sins. But who healed him who brought 50 00:05:47,100 –> 00:05:54,100 him joy and gladness? Answer? God healed him. God restored to him the joy of his salvation. 51 00:05:56,299 –> 00:06:00,700 And so what we learn here is that there is a special and a very wonderful ministry of 52 00:06:00,760 –> 00:06:07,760 the Holy Spirit to heal your cart when it is broken, to comfort your spirit where it 53 00:06:10,700 –> 00:06:17,700 is made tender because you have seen how far you are still to go in the Christian life. 54 00:06:19,299 –> 00:06:26,140 So, if you feel a sense of your own failure today, if you feel a frustration by the limits 55 00:06:26,260 –> 00:06:31,640 of your own progress, then God’s word is especially for you today. 56 00:06:31,640 –> 00:06:38,640 I want us to see the grace and the gentleness and the patience of Jesus in the scriptures. 57 00:06:40,600 –> 00:06:45,160 And we’re going to see that particularly in three beautiful pictures, and I hope they’ll 58 00:06:45,160 –> 00:06:50,760 be pictures that will stay in our minds and our hearts. The first from Psalm 51 is the 59 00:06:50,799 –> 00:06:57,799 picture of the broken heart, and then from Isaiah 42, the picture of the bruised reed, 60 00:06:58,559 –> 00:07:02,760 and then from the same chapter, the smoky fire. 61 00:07:02,760 –> 00:07:09,239 And may God speak to us and bring us comfort and strength and encouragement through His 62 00:07:09,239 –> 00:07:16,239 word today. Psalm 51 then, the broken heart. Will you look at verse 17 where David says 63 00:07:17,019 –> 00:07:24,019 the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will 64 00:07:26,119 –> 00:07:31,500 not despise. And we’re learning here first then that God 65 00:07:31,500 –> 00:07:38,500 will not despise a broken heart. What is a broken heart? John Bunyan wrote a 66 00:07:39,299 –> 00:07:46,299 whole book on this one verse and he points out the parallel between David’s statement 67 00:07:46,359 –> 00:07:53,359 about the crushed bones or the broken bones in verse eight, and the broken heart in verse 68 00:07:53,420 –> 00:08:00,420 seventeen. And Bunyan makes the point that these are actually two ways of speaking about 69 00:08:00,440 –> 00:08:06,380 or depicting the same thing. When David says, Let the bones you have found be touched and 70 00:08:06,459 –> 00:08:10,640 when David says, Let the bones you have crushed rejoice’, he doesn’t mean that God somehow 71 00:08:10,640 –> 00:08:16,019 came down from heaven and broke his arms and his legs. Though that did happen on one occasion 72 00:08:16,019 –> 00:08:20,260 remember with Jacob and the socket thing with his hip. But that didn’t happen to David. 73 00:08:20,260 –> 00:08:26,339 What he is saying is that the experience of the broken heart feels like the experience 74 00:08:26,339 –> 00:08:31,480 of broken bone’s. Now how many of us have broken a bone some place in life? You broken 75 00:08:32,299 –> 00:08:36,820 a leg? Something worse? What is it like when you break your bones? Well you experience 76 00:08:40,099 –> 00:08:46,039 great pain. Secondly you feel useless. Have you ever seen a guy with a broken leg on the 77 00:08:46,880 –> 00:08:53,020 side of the basketball court and he is watching the game. He is desperate to get on and play 78 00:08:53,020 –> 00:08:57,359 but he can’t because his bones are broken being in that position watching the team. 79 00:08:57,359 –> 00:09:02,359 You feel so useless. Pain. Can’t do what I want to do and you know you need the help 80 00:09:05,559 –> 00:09:11,559 of a doctor. One thing that you can’t do for yourself is set your own bones right? 81 00:09:11,559 –> 00:09:16,140 Now that’s exactly what the broken heart is like. When your heart is broken you experience 82 00:09:16,140 –> 00:09:23,140 great pain over who you are and what you have done. You feel useless to God. You know that 83 00:09:24,000 –> 00:09:31,000 you desperately need help. That’s what it is like. But God is telling us here that contray 84 00:09:32,320 –> 00:09:39,320 to all that we may feel, the broken heart is actually a good thing. Bunyan puts it this 85 00:09:39,619 –> 00:09:46,619 way writing in the kind of phrasing of his time. He said that the broken heart is an 86 00:09:47,619 –> 00:09:54,619 excellent thing in the eyes of God. The broken heart is an excellent thing in the eyes of 87 00:09:55,659 –> 00:09:59,859 God. Now, immediately some of our brows will farrow and say how in all the world can that 88 00:09:59,859 –> 00:10:05,520 possibly be. Let me give you three reasons why the broken heart is an excellent thing 89 00:10:05,520 –> 00:10:11,260 in the eyes of God, because in the Bible, God gives specific promises that are directed 90 00:10:11,580 –> 00:10:16,520 only to those who experience the broken heart, the contrite 91 00:10:16,520 –> 00:10:22,780 spirit. The first you’ll find in Isaiah Chapter 57 and verse 15. I think it will be 92 00:10:22,780 –> 00:10:27,719 worth your while to turn to these scriptures and to note them so that we can hold them 93 00:10:27,719 –> 00:10:34,719 in our memories and come back to them again. Isaiah chapter 57, and verse 15, here is the 94 00:10:35,280 –> 00:10:39,960 first great promise to a person who has a broken heart. If you have a broken heart it 95 00:10:39,979 –> 00:10:46,979 is an excellent thing because God will live with you. Now look at this extraordinary statement. 96 00:10:50,099 –> 00:10:57,099 Isaiah 57 and verse 15, this is what the high and lofty one says, he who lives forever and 97 00:10:57,419 –> 00:11:04,419 whose name is holy. Here is what he says. I live in a high and holy place. But, also 98 00:11:10,080 –> 00:11:17,080 with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit. This is an amazing statement. The high and 99 00:11:20,960 –> 00:11:27,960 holy one who inhabits eternity, the living God says I live in Heaven. But also I live 100 00:11:30,780 –> 00:11:37,780 with the person who has a contrite and lowly spirit. Do you see why it is an excellent 101 00:11:40,179 –> 00:11:47,179 thing? You come to a point and you gain a spirit where you see your own need, and God 102 00:11:56,359 –> 00:12:03,359 says I am going to hang around with you. I am going to move into your life now. I am 103 00:12:03,479 –> 00:12:10,479 going to live with you. I’m going to choose you as my companion because you are the kind 104 00:12:11,000 –> 00:12:18,000 of person or place where I can build my kingdom. If you have a broken heart, a contrite spirit, 105 00:12:22,880 –> 00:12:29,880 it is an excellent thing because God who may have been very far from you says that he will 106 00:12:30,479 –> 00:12:37,479 come, that he will come and live with you. Here’s the second promise, and they are kind 107 00:12:40,840 –> 00:12:47,840 of cumulative. Turn over just a few pages now we’re in Isaiah chapter 61. The second 108 00:12:48,640 –> 00:12:53,500 reason why the broken heart is an excellent thing is because Jesus Christ is sent for 109 00:12:53,500 –> 00:12:59,679 you. Now Isaiah 61 is a very important passage in the Old Testament because this is the passage 110 00:12:59,679 –> 00:13:05,400 I read when he launched his ministry, as recorded for us in Luke’s gospel in chapter four. He 111 00:13:05,400 –> 00:13:11,340 read from these verses that Isaiah had penned under the inspiration of the Spirit hundreds 112 00:13:11,340 –> 00:13:16,020 of years before the birth of Jesus but he’s speaking about the Messiah, why he would come 113 00:13:16,020 –> 00:13:21,539 and what he would do. And he says in Isaiah chapter 61 in verse 1, that the spirit of 114 00:13:21,539 –> 00:13:28,539 the Sovereign Lord is on me, that is on the Messiah because the Lord has anointed me, 115 00:13:28,599 –> 00:13:35,500 the Messiah, to preach Good News to the poor. And what is the first dimension of what that 116 00:13:35,500 –> 00:13:42,500 means? Look at it here, he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. So you ask the 117 00:13:47,219 –> 00:13:54,219 question, why was Jesus Christ sent into the world? What did he come to do? And Isaiah 118 00:13:55,039 –> 00:14:02,039 is telling us Messiah’s specific commission from the Father is that he is sent into the 119 00:14:03,559 –> 00:14:10,200 world to bind up the brokenhearted. The Father sees brokenhearted people in the world and 120 00:14:10,200 –> 00:14:17,200 he says, son, you go! And you go to them! And Christ says, he has sent me. So doing 121 00:14:24,219 –> 00:14:31,219 this to bind up you, the brokenhearted. Remember, of course, that’s why Jesus said, it is not 122 00:14:33,159 –> 00:14:40,140 the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Which doesn’t mean that only some people need 123 00:14:40,140 –> 00:14:44,960 Jesus. What it means is simply this, that the people who benefit from his coming into 124 00:14:44,960 –> 00:14:50,059 the world are those who’ve come to see and grieve over their own sins, people who know 125 00:14:50,419 –> 00:14:55,919 there’s something wrong with them that only Jesus Christ can actually put right, they 126 00:14:55,919 –> 00:15:01,919 cannot fix it by themselves. And if you don’t see that, if you don’t grasp that, then the 127 00:15:01,919 –> 00:15:07,460 coming of Jesus Christ into the world is really of no benefit to you because he came to benefit 128 00:15:07,460 –> 00:15:14,460 those who are broken hearted. That is the second reason why a broken heart is an excellent 129 00:15:15,380 –> 00:15:22,380 thing in the eyes of God. For where your heart is broken, God will live with you, and Christ 130 00:15:24,119 –> 00:15:30,059 has come for you. And here’s the third thing, heaven belongs to you. 131 00:15:30,059 –> 00:15:35,419 Matthew chapter five and verse three over into the New Testament. The first of the Beatitudes 132 00:15:35,419 –> 00:15:40,679 we call them. Great statements of Jesus about God’s grace at work in the world. And he says 133 00:15:40,700 –> 00:15:47,700 in Matthew chapter five and verse three, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom 134 00:15:52,979 –> 00:15:56,919 of heaven. Now to be poor in spirit of course is just 135 00:15:56,919 –> 00:16:03,919 another way of saying brokenhearted. And it’s important to remember Jesus never exalted 136 00:16:04,359 –> 00:16:11,359 poverty. Poverty is a bad thing, a terrible thing. But to be poor in spirit is a good 137 00:16:14,400 –> 00:16:21,219 thing. To be poor in spirit recognizes, means that you recognize that you don’t have what 138 00:16:21,219 –> 00:16:28,219 God demands and you cannot offer what God requires. And the extraordinary thing is that 139 00:16:29,059 –> 00:16:36,059 Jesus says, when you realize your own bankruptcy before God, far from being the end of hope, 140 00:16:36,219 –> 00:16:42,619 it turns out to be the beginning. Blessed are the poor in spirit. It is an excellent 141 00:16:42,619 –> 00:16:49,619 thing, he is saying, because theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Now it is very hard to 142 00:16:50,159 –> 00:16:57,159 believe this when your heart is broken. Because when you see your own failure, when you see 143 00:17:01,440 –> 00:17:07,319 and feel the limits of your own progress in the Christian life, when you feel a broken 144 00:17:07,319 –> 00:17:14,319 heart, you feel unworthy of heaven. And when your heart is broken, you feel like your life 145 00:17:15,140 –> 00:17:21,000 is not the kind of place that’s fit for the presence of God. You think, I feel as if I 146 00:17:21,000 –> 00:17:25,400 need to be at a distance from him. It’s not appropriate for him to be near to me as 147 00:17:25,400 –> 00:17:31,760 I am. And you really feel that you’re just not the kind of person that Jesus Christ is 148 00:17:31,760 –> 00:17:38,760 looking for in the world. But you see, that’s where faith comes in because faith takes God 149 00:17:39,760 –> 00:17:46,760 at his word. Faith comes to the bible and then comes to God and says, OK you say that 150 00:17:49,060 –> 00:17:56,060 you live with a person who has a contrite spirit. That’s me. You say that you sent 151 00:17:57,079 –> 00:18:04,079 your son into the world to bind up a brokenhearted person. That’s me. You say that heaven belongs 152 00:18:05,020 –> 00:18:12,020 to those who know that they cannot offer what you demand. That’s me. A brokenhearted 153 00:18:15,020 –> 00:18:22,020 is an excellent thing in the eyes of God. God will not despise the brokenheart, and 154 00:18:26,099 –> 00:18:33,099 if God will not despise the broken heart, neither should you. Neither should you. Then 155 00:18:34,400 –> 00:18:40,160 why is it, therefore, that even in church world we seem to pour a great deal of energy 156 00:18:40,160 –> 00:18:46,520 into trying to avoid the broken heart, the very thing that Christ says is excellent and 157 00:18:46,520 –> 00:18:53,520 blessed. John Bunyan says, conversion to God is not so easy and so smooth a thing as some 158 00:18:54,079 –> 00:19:01,079 conversion to God is not so easy and so smooth a thing as some would have men believe that 159 00:19:02,780 –> 00:19:09,780 it is? And he asks a question. Why is it, he says, that in the Bible – he’s quoting 160 00:19:10,180 –> 00:19:17,180 Jeremiah chapter 3 and other places – why is it that in the Bible our hearts are described 161 00:19:17,579 –> 00:19:24,579 as hard ground and God’s Word is described as a plow that plows up hard ground? Why is 162 00:19:27,859 –> 00:19:34,859 it, he asks, that conversion is compared to the grafting of a tree? That’s a very powerful 163 00:19:37,420 –> 00:19:43,939 picture, you see. When you graft a stem onto a root – I used 164 00:19:44,060 –> 00:19:49,099 to watch my grandfather doing this in his allotment. He would take roots of roses and 165 00:19:49,099 –> 00:19:54,339 stems and he would hybrid them together and so forth. The way you do it, as many of you 166 00:19:54,339 –> 00:19:59,579 know better than I do, you cut into a part of the root, and you cut into part of the 167 00:19:59,579 –> 00:20:04,640 stem, and then you bind these open wounds that you have created together, and then you 168 00:20:04,640 –> 00:20:09,760 plant the root and the stem so bound, and then the character of the root then flows 169 00:20:09,760 –> 00:20:15,800 into the stem, and if the root is for a red rose, then the stem will bear a red rose and 170 00:20:15,800 –> 00:20:24,900 so forth. But the key thing is the cut. You wound the stem, you wound the root, and you 171 00:20:24,900 –> 00:20:31,780 bind them together. When wounded root and wounded stem are bound together and planted, 172 00:20:32,020 –> 00:20:41,680 the sap from the root penetrates the stem bringing it life and imparting its character. Now, 173 00:20:41,699 –> 00:20:48,699 if you just take a stem and a root, unwounded, and bind them together, nothing happens, no 174 00:20:50,959 –> 00:20:57,959 life, nothing grows. And you know, I think that helps us understand why some people profess 175 00:20:58,959 –> 00:21:05,959 faith and have no spiritual life in them. We have reduced conversion to a human decision. 176 00:21:10,959 –> 00:21:17,959 We live in a world of accepting Jesus. We have become used to professions of faith without 177 00:21:20,800 –> 00:21:26,060 repentance, and that is unbiblical, isn’t it? 178 00:21:26,060 –> 00:21:32,339 What that’s like is it’s like binding an uncut stem to an uncut root, digging a hole in the 179 00:21:32,339 –> 00:21:38,719 ground and sticking them there, and you know what happens? Absolutely nothing. You end 180 00:21:38,719 –> 00:21:44,540 up with people who think themselves Christians and yet have no awareness of sin in their 181 00:21:44,540 –> 00:21:51,540 lives, no sorrow over it, no great sense of gratitude to God in worship, no evidence of 182 00:21:52,000 –> 00:21:57,219 the presence or the life of God within them or the fruit that comes from that life. 183 00:21:57,219 –> 00:22:04,219 Now, friends, this is not true Christianity, is it? And that’s not where one of us wants 184 00:22:04,880 –> 00:22:11,880 to be. The broken heart is an excellent thing in the eyes of God. It is the wound into which 185 00:22:12,219 –> 00:22:19,219 new life can flow. And without it our faith will always be artificial. So if your heart 186 00:22:27,099 –> 00:22:33,199 has been broken over your own sins, if you are seeing a sense of your own need and feeling 187 00:22:33,199 –> 00:22:40,199 that, far from discouraging you I want to say that is a sure evidence of God’s grace 188 00:22:41,119 –> 00:22:46,359 in your life thanking for it. If God does not despise the broken heart neither should 189 00:22:46,359 –> 00:22:53,359 you, neither should I, neither should we. God lives in you. Christ is sent for you. 190 00:22:55,619 –> 00:23:02,619 And heaven belongs to you. And when your heart is broken then you have found the hidden path 191 00:23:03,619 –> 00:23:10,619 to a transformed life. You see so much of the Christian faith is just the opposite of 192 00:23:12,260 –> 00:23:18,380 the wisdom of the world. It is counterintuitive and yet it is so clear and so plain right 193 00:23:18,380 –> 00:23:22,979 there in the Scriptures. God will not despise the broken heart. 194 00:23:22,979 –> 00:23:27,760 Now, I want more quickly to move onto the second and third pictures this morning. Will 195 00:23:27,760 –> 00:23:34,079 you turn with me secondly then to Isaiah, chapter 42, where we’re going to pitch for 196 00:23:34,079 –> 00:23:41,079 the rest of our time. The first image was the broken heart that God will not despise. 197 00:23:43,560 –> 00:23:50,180 I want us to turn now to Isaiah, chapter 42, where we find two other powerful pictures 198 00:23:50,180 –> 00:23:57,040 that I trust God will use to strengthen us and encourage us today. 199 00:23:57,160 –> 00:24:04,300 God will not despise a broken heart, second, God will not break a bruised reed. 200 00:24:04,300 –> 00:24:11,479 Now, we’re looking here at Isaiah, chapter 42 and verse 3. 201 00:24:11,479 –> 00:24:15,640 You’ll notice that the chapter begins with God speaking about the character and work 202 00:24:15,640 –> 00:24:21,119 of the Messiah, who will be God’s servant, God’s chosen one, God’s delight. He will 203 00:24:21,119 –> 00:24:26,900 be filled with God’s spirit, and he will bring justice to the nations. 204 00:24:26,920 –> 00:24:37,319 Then Isaiah says in verse 3, a bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he 205 00:24:37,319 –> 00:24:40,339 will not snuff out. 206 00:24:40,339 –> 00:24:45,859 God will not break a bruised reed. 207 00:24:45,859 –> 00:24:50,260 Now, will you think with me for a moment about this picture. 208 00:24:51,219 –> 00:24:58,160 Walking along the side of a river, and on the bank there are tall reeds. 209 00:24:58,160 –> 00:25:01,280 And they have been blowing in the wind. 210 00:25:01,280 –> 00:25:05,219 And you notice that some of these reeds have been bent over. 211 00:25:05,219 –> 00:25:08,359 A strong wind has caught them. 212 00:25:08,359 –> 00:25:12,219 Or people have trampled on them. 213 00:25:12,219 –> 00:25:15,979 And these reeds are bruised, they are weakened. 214 00:25:15,979 –> 00:25:18,920 They do not support their full height. 215 00:25:18,939 –> 00:25:28,280 They are bent over, and another trampling, another gust of wind, and they could easily be gone. 216 00:25:28,280 –> 00:25:34,579 Now, maybe you can relate to that picture this morning. 217 00:25:34,579 –> 00:25:37,520 You have been trampled. 218 00:25:37,520 –> 00:25:40,520 You have been bruised. 219 00:25:40,520 –> 00:25:43,619 You have been wounded. 220 00:25:43,619 –> 00:25:48,540 Strong winds that have blown into your life have taken the strength from you. 221 00:25:48,599 –> 00:25:53,579 You don’t feel you are able to stand up, as it were, and now you feel vulnerable like 222 00:25:53,579 –> 00:25:54,699 a bruised reed. 223 00:25:54,699 –> 00:25:59,900 One more trampling, one more gust of wind, and you think, I could easily be gone. 224 00:25:59,900 –> 00:26:06,400 Now, that’s the picture, and here’s the promise. 225 00:26:06,400 –> 00:26:13,819 A bruised reed, he will not break. 226 00:26:13,920 –> 00:26:21,300 We had a group of women in the church I served in London who for some time met to talk and 227 00:26:21,319 –> 00:26:25,680 to sew and to prepare banners which were hung in the church. 228 00:26:25,680 –> 00:26:31,439 They depicted various scenes from the Scriptures, and one of them, my favorite actually, was 229 00:26:31,439 –> 00:26:32,780 based on this verse. 230 00:26:33,459 –> 00:26:44,500 It showed a stock that was bent over and almost broken, but it did not break because a hand 231 00:26:44,500 –> 00:26:47,359 held its weight. 232 00:26:47,359 –> 00:26:54,040 That, I think, catches exactly what is being said here that the bruised reed that otherwise 233 00:26:54,040 –> 00:27:03,319 would be broken and trampled over and finally gone is sustained because of the hand of the 234 00:27:03,319 –> 00:27:11,280 Lord Jesus Christ on it and around it, a bruised reed He will not break. 235 00:27:11,280 –> 00:27:19,119 Now, that is a wonderful promise and will you allow the Holy Spirit to settle it in 236 00:27:19,119 –> 00:27:21,719 your mind and in your heart? 237 00:27:21,719 –> 00:27:30,619 Your life is in the hands of Christ and with all the bruising that you have experienced 238 00:27:30,619 –> 00:27:35,640 He will hold you in your weakness. 239 00:27:35,640 –> 00:27:41,939 Not only is your life in His hand, but even the winds that blow are in His hands and the 240 00:27:41,939 –> 00:27:45,199 people who walk on the path are on His hands. 241 00:27:45,719 –> 00:27:52,520 He is not only in control of you, He is in control of everything that happens to you 242 00:27:52,520 –> 00:27:56,199 and everything that will happen to you and He gives you this promise that He will not 243 00:27:56,199 –> 00:28:02,459 allow you to be tested beyond what you can bear, but He will make a way for you so that 244 00:28:02,459 –> 00:28:05,199 you can stand up under it. 245 00:28:05,199 –> 00:28:09,939 A bruised reed He will not break. 246 00:28:09,939 –> 00:28:15,119 So you may be bruised, but the promise of Christ to you as His child is you will not 247 00:28:15,140 –> 00:28:17,140 be broken. 248 00:28:17,140 –> 00:28:23,500 You may be wounded, but the promise of Christ to you as His child is you will not be destroyed. 249 00:28:23,500 –> 00:28:28,079 Paul one of the greatest Christians surely who has ever lived knew all about this in 250 00:28:28,079 –> 00:28:29,079 his own life. 251 00:28:29,079 –> 00:28:30,680 Do you remember how he expressed it? 252 00:28:30,680 –> 00:28:35,099 We are hard pressed on every side, but we are not crushed. 253 00:28:35,099 –> 00:28:38,079 We are perplexed, but we are not in despair. 254 00:28:38,079 –> 00:28:40,939 We are persecuted, but we are not abandoned. 255 00:28:40,939 –> 00:28:43,900 We are struck down, but we are not destroyed. 256 00:28:43,900 –> 00:28:49,119 We always carry about in us the death of Jesus in our body so that the life of Jesus 257 00:28:49,119 –> 00:28:51,939 may be revealed in our body also. 258 00:28:51,939 –> 00:28:59,819 There is a beautiful statement in Psalm 103 where we are told that God knows our frame 259 00:28:59,819 –> 00:29:03,699 and he remembers that we are dust. 260 00:29:03,699 –> 00:29:07,560 God knows the limits of our own strength. 261 00:29:07,560 –> 00:29:09,459 He knows the kind of reeds we are. 262 00:29:09,459 –> 00:29:10,979 We are reeds not trees. 263 00:29:11,880 –> 00:29:14,380 We are bruised reeds at that. 264 00:29:14,380 –> 00:29:20,859 And the Savior not only knows that we are dust, He has entered into human experience. 265 00:29:20,859 –> 00:29:24,739 He knows what it is to be tired. 266 00:29:24,739 –> 00:29:29,180 He has experienced what it is to be misunderstood and lonely. 267 00:29:29,180 –> 00:29:33,300 He knows what it is to be tempted and wounded. 268 00:29:33,300 –> 00:29:39,500 He knows what it is to be, think about this, abused. 269 00:29:40,359 –> 00:29:44,319 He has been wounded. 270 00:29:44,319 –> 00:29:51,099 He has been bruised. 271 00:29:51,099 –> 00:29:58,099 And so He has a special sensitivity to bruising. 272 00:30:01,119 –> 00:30:06,119 A bruised reed He will not break. 273 00:30:06,339 –> 00:30:10,839 He will not break. 274 00:30:10,839 –> 00:30:16,060 Now your accuser, Satan, may come to you when you begin to be stirred up by the Spirit of 275 00:30:16,060 –> 00:30:22,560 God to some kind of hope and he will say to you, Oh, your wounds are too deep. 276 00:30:22,560 –> 00:30:26,400 The hidden path to a transformed life, it will remain hidden to you. 277 00:30:26,400 –> 00:30:31,599 It’s well beyond what you can find in your life after all that has happened to you. 278 00:30:31,599 –> 00:30:38,319 And you need to say to him, No, not true because of Jesus. 279 00:30:38,319 –> 00:30:41,800 Because of Jesus. 280 00:30:41,800 –> 00:30:44,719 And the bruised reed he will not break. 281 00:30:44,719 –> 00:30:49,339 Is that a beautiful picture? 282 00:30:49,339 –> 00:30:55,560 God will not despise the broken heart. 283 00:30:55,560 –> 00:31:00,359 And God will not break the bruised reed. 284 00:31:00,359 –> 00:31:03,119 Ready for one more? 285 00:31:03,119 –> 00:31:08,520 God will not snuff out a smoky fire. 286 00:31:08,520 –> 00:31:12,680 The phrase that’s used here is a smouldering wick. 287 00:31:12,680 –> 00:31:15,660 I’m going to refer to it as a smoky fire. 288 00:31:15,660 –> 00:31:20,880 Which I think catches best the picture that Isaiah is using. 289 00:31:20,880 –> 00:31:24,780 The authorized version says a smoking flax he will not quench. 290 00:31:24,780 –> 00:31:30,000 The NIV, a smouldering wick he will not snuff out. 291 00:31:30,680 –> 00:31:34,579 Now, the picture here is very simply the picture of starting a fire. 292 00:31:34,579 –> 00:31:40,380 And imagine yourself out camping, or remember a time when you’ve been out camping 293 00:31:40,380 –> 00:31:45,459 and you have to start a fire using only a few leaves and twigs 294 00:31:45,459 –> 00:31:48,660 and a damp box of matches, you know that deal? 295 00:31:48,660 –> 00:31:53,260 You’ve got this little pile of twigs and of leaves and a couple of bits of straw 296 00:31:53,260 –> 00:31:53,859 and whatever. 297 00:31:53,859 –> 00:31:59,219 The problem is that they seem to be a little damp and so as you begin to get the fire going 298 00:31:59,239 –> 00:32:00,400 what’s it like? 299 00:32:00,400 –> 00:32:10,439 There’s more smoke than fire and you look at this smoking, smoldering kind of pile of 300 00:32:10,439 –> 00:32:14,140 twigs and you don’t want to poke it or disturb it but you’re saying to yourself 301 00:32:14,140 –> 00:32:19,459 I’m not sure if there’s any fire going in there at all. 302 00:32:19,459 –> 00:32:22,000 And that’s the picture here. 303 00:32:22,000 –> 00:32:29,160 And it is a wonderful picture of what we sometimes feel about God’s work in our own lives. 304 00:32:29,300 –> 00:32:32,380 And let’s face it when we look at our own lives sometimes, even after all the years 305 00:32:32,380 –> 00:32:36,040 that you may have been a Christian, don’t you have times when you look at your life 306 00:32:36,040 –> 00:32:44,219 and the flame of God’s grace seems to be very little in you and the smoke of your own failure 307 00:32:44,219 –> 00:32:51,060 seems to be very obvious to you and it seems as you look at your own life that there’s 308 00:32:51,060 –> 00:32:58,839 more smoke than fire and sometimes you wonder is there actually any fire in there at all. 309 00:32:58,839 –> 00:33:04,760 Now using that picture I think it’s helpful to remember that smoke and fire always exist 310 00:33:04,760 –> 00:33:08,939 together in the life of a Christian believer in differing degrees. 311 00:33:08,939 –> 00:33:12,540 But in the life of a Christian believer they always exist together. 312 00:33:12,540 –> 00:33:17,400 You see it all the way throughout the Bible as well as in our own experience. 313 00:33:17,400 –> 00:33:24,719 Peter says to Jesus, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. 314 00:33:24,719 –> 00:33:25,719 That’s fire. 315 00:33:26,239 –> 00:33:29,000 Then Jesus says, well, just so you know I’m going to go to the cross. 316 00:33:29,000 –> 00:33:30,880 Not so, Lord. 317 00:33:30,880 –> 00:33:34,140 That’s smoke, right? 318 00:33:34,140 –> 00:33:42,939 Thomas, unless I see the nail prints in his hand and put my fist into his side I will 319 00:33:42,939 –> 00:33:44,599 not believe. 320 00:33:44,599 –> 00:33:46,040 That’s smoke. 321 00:33:47,920 –> 00:33:51,959 He sees Jesus and he falls on his face, my Lord and my God. 322 00:33:51,959 –> 00:33:53,439 That’s fire. 323 00:33:54,439 –> 00:33:58,199 A man comes to Jesus and he says, Lord, I believe. 324 00:33:58,199 –> 00:33:59,979 That’s fire. 325 00:33:59,979 –> 00:34:01,959 Help my unbelief. 326 00:34:01,959 –> 00:34:05,180 That’s smoke. 327 00:34:05,180 –> 00:34:06,859 The spirit is willing. 328 00:34:06,859 –> 00:34:08,060 That’s fire. 329 00:34:08,060 –> 00:34:09,219 The flesh is weak. 330 00:34:09,219 –> 00:34:11,600 There’s the smoke. 331 00:34:11,600 –> 00:34:14,320 Oh, wretched man that I am. 332 00:34:14,320 –> 00:34:15,620 Who will deliver me? 333 00:34:15,620 –> 00:34:17,139 There’s the smoke. 334 00:34:18,000 –> 00:34:22,320 Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ. 335 00:34:22,320 –> 00:34:23,979 There’s the fire. 336 00:34:23,979 –> 00:34:31,760 Back in the 17th century, a man called Richard Sibbes wrote a whole book on this one verse 337 00:34:31,760 –> 00:34:35,520 in Isaiah, and he called it The Bruised Read. 338 00:34:35,520 –> 00:34:39,280 It’s a wonderful and very insightful book. 339 00:34:39,280 –> 00:34:43,239 And he says there, I want to quote one or two things he says that I find so very helpful. 340 00:34:43,419 –> 00:34:50,020 Grace does not do away with corruption all at once in the Christian believer. 341 00:34:50,020 –> 00:34:53,439 Some is left for believers to fight with. 342 00:34:53,439 –> 00:35:00,100 From this mixture, he says, arises the fact that God’s people have different judgments 343 00:35:00,100 –> 00:35:01,899 of themselves. 344 00:35:01,899 –> 00:35:03,800 Because we’re fire and smoke together, you see. 345 00:35:03,800 –> 00:35:08,820 We have different judgments of ourselves, looking sometimes at the work of grace and 346 00:35:08,820 –> 00:35:11,800 sometimes at our remaining corruption. 347 00:35:12,060 –> 00:35:17,479 And when we look upon that, we may think that we have no grace at all. 348 00:35:17,479 –> 00:35:19,419 You know that experience? 349 00:35:19,419 –> 00:35:25,820 You look at the smoke, and you say, I really, really wonder if there’s any fire. 350 00:35:27,120 –> 00:35:34,340 It follows, he says, and this I think is brilliant, that Christians must have two eyes, one to 351 00:35:34,340 –> 00:35:39,600 see imperfections in ourselves and the other to see what is good. 352 00:35:39,780 –> 00:35:44,399 See, don’t be a one-eyed Christian who only sees smoke and cannot detect the evidence 353 00:35:44,419 –> 00:35:45,419 of God’s grace. 354 00:35:45,419 –> 00:35:49,939 Or who only see that, oh God’s doing wonderful things in my life, but cannot really see what 355 00:35:49,939 –> 00:35:51,639 remains yet to be changed. 356 00:35:52,000 –> 00:35:53,899 Too many one-eyed Christians. 357 00:35:53,899 –> 00:35:56,260 You never grow that way. 358 00:35:56,260 –> 00:36:01,100 No we must have two eyes, one to see the imperfections in ourselves, the other to see what is good. 359 00:36:01,100 –> 00:36:07,860 And we must beware, he says, of false reasoning such as, because our fire does not blaze as 360 00:36:07,919 –> 00:36:13,820 others, therefore we have no fire at all. 361 00:36:13,820 –> 00:36:21,080 We must look to grace in the spark as well as in the flame. 362 00:36:21,080 –> 00:36:26,840 Learn to discern the fire in the smoke. 363 00:36:26,840 –> 00:36:32,959 And you know, it isn’t an amazing thing that the Holy Spirit would start His fire in smoky 364 00:36:32,959 –> 00:36:34,600 souls. 365 00:36:35,179 –> 00:36:39,979 Indeed, there is no smoke without fire. 366 00:36:40,000 –> 00:36:47,739 And when you see and feel your own failure, you can be confident that the spark of God’s 367 00:36:47,739 –> 00:36:55,919 grace is present in your life and, here’s the promise, God will not allow it to be extinguished. 368 00:36:55,919 –> 00:37:02,000 He will not allow the smoldering wit to be snuffed out, He’ll not allow the smoky fire 369 00:37:02,360 –> 00:37:05,360 to come to nothing. 370 00:37:05,360 –> 00:37:10,120 Because even the spark is the spark of His Holy Spirit. 371 00:37:10,120 –> 00:37:16,719 And what His Holy Spirit does is never abandoned and never ultimately fails. 372 00:37:16,719 –> 00:37:18,840 I love this from Sibbes. 373 00:37:18,840 –> 00:37:20,919 These guys could really write with style. 374 00:37:21,139 –> 00:37:32,260 Oh, what a confusion is this to Satan, that he should labor to blow out a poor spark and 375 00:37:32,260 –> 00:37:36,639 yet should be unable to quench it. 376 00:37:36,639 –> 00:37:42,239 That a grain of mustard seed should be stronger than the gates of hell. 377 00:37:42,239 –> 00:37:44,139 Don’t you thank God for that? 378 00:37:44,139 –> 00:37:50,439 This little fire that sometimes seems so pathetic to you, and it’s such a big frustration for 379 00:37:50,459 –> 00:37:57,179 Satan because he cannot blow it out because it is ignited by the Spirit of God. 380 00:37:57,179 –> 00:38:02,639 And the commitment of Jeus Christ is that every spark in the human soul will be fanned 381 00:38:02,639 –> 00:38:03,820 into flame. 382 00:38:03,820 –> 00:38:08,520 Every work of God’s grace begun will be brought to completion. 383 00:38:08,520 –> 00:38:10,300 One more quote from Sibbes. 384 00:38:10,300 –> 00:38:19,219 He says, learn to see a flame in the spark and a tree in the seed. 385 00:38:19,219 –> 00:38:23,459 See great things in little beginnings. 386 00:38:23,459 –> 00:38:30,699 Look not so much to the small beginning but to the perfection of that which is completed. 387 00:38:30,699 –> 00:38:40,739 And so we shall be in some degree joyful in ourselves and thankful to Christ. 388 00:38:40,800 –> 00:38:49,399 Now when you look at your Christian life, you will often feel, as I often feel, that 389 00:38:49,399 –> 00:38:54,860 you’re not what you ought to be, that you’re not what you want to be. 390 00:38:54,860 –> 00:38:59,020 It’s good to remember then that you’re not yet what you will be. 391 00:38:59,020 –> 00:39:03,399 What we will be is yet to be made known. 392 00:39:03,399 –> 00:39:08,780 And in the grace and mercy of God you’re not what you used to be either. 393 00:39:08,820 –> 00:39:17,020 And when the accuser tells you that your sins are too great, you tell him that God will 394 00:39:17,020 –> 00:39:20,939 not despise a broken heart. 395 00:39:20,939 –> 00:39:28,060 And when the accuser tells you that your wounds are too deep, tell him that God will not break 396 00:39:28,060 –> 00:39:31,179 a bruised reed. 397 00:39:31,340 –> 00:39:39,659 And when the accuser tells you that your faith is too small, tell him that God will not quench 398 00:39:39,659 –> 00:39:42,739 a smoky fire. 399 00:39:42,739 –> 00:39:50,699 And may God strengthen our hearts as we pursue the hidden path to a transformed life. 400 00:39:50,699 –> 00:39:52,360 Let’s pray together. 401 00:39:52,360 –> 00:40:07,000 Father, work your grace deeply into our souls with healing and strengthening power today 402 00:40:07,000 –> 00:40:12,760 for our encouragement for our building up and for your greater glory. 403 00:40:12,760 –> 00:40:17,959 For these things we ask in Jesus’ name, Amen.