Bruised Reeds (Part 1)

God Speaks Through His Word and Through the Servant Messiah

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. Mike Abendroth, Duplex Gratia Radio. I feel like I should be playing a Kraftwerk song or something like that. Kraftwerk. Anyway, you can write us. Info at nocompromiseradio .com.

What else am I supposed to say? Give us good ratings, five-star ratings so people can find us better. Give reviews. Go to Patreon. Anyway, today is a great day, a happy day. I'm starving from my year I've been fasting.

Yesterday, I thought I could just go all day without eating. Today, still kind of a little under the weather from this respiratory virus or whatever I got. And I don't know. Were you supposed to starve a cold, feed a respiratory virus?

What in the world are we supposed to do? Anyway, when I get something in my brain, like, hey, I should try this. I just want to do it for a while. So we're three and a half weeks in or something like that.

Who knows? There's a great passage in the Bible. All passages in the Bible are great, of course. What if God didn't speak? That would be weird. We'd be wandering around, wandering around, wandering too.

Wandering as I wander. Wander as I wander. I wander as I wonder. Anyway, there's a great passage in the Bible, and thankfully the Lord speaks, right? He's not like a mute idol or a dumb idol or, you know, that you can see an idol, but it doesn't talk.

And it's very important that the Lord speaks. I don't know if you've even thought about that, that God speaks. He wouldn't have to speak. We wouldn't know what He's thinking. We wouldn't know a lot. He even speaks in nature, does He not?

A little bit differently than He speaks in His Word or in His Son or through prophets back in the day. But in Matthew, there's a great passage, and Jesus had done some healing. He healed a man with a withered hand, and the Pharisees were trying to figure out how to destroy him, all with Sabbath issues.

And Matthew 12 said, This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. And here's Isaiah 42, part of Isaiah 42. Now, on our last show, at least the one I recorded last, we discussed this passage, the bruised reed and the smoldering wick.

Remember that show? Oh, I remember that show. That was just yesterday. I think the phone's ringing over there, but I don't have the secretary in today, so it is what it is. Maybe that's just my ears. Who knows?

There's a wonderful book written by Richard Sibbes, and it was called The Bruised Reed. Now, it's in volume one of his works, Banner of Truth. I think just reprinted his works. I had to buy them piecemeal, and I have them all.

But issue one, volume one, I was going to say episode one. That's why I paused there. We've got The Bruised Reed. That's how it all starts. You get a little bio of Sibbes, and then it all starts. I want to say that Sibbes got converted by listening to the pastor that took over for William Perkins.

I don't remember Perkins' successor, but I think Sibbes heard him preach. We're talking, I think, late 1500s is what the issue is. This is not a bio, obviously, because if it was, it would be a very bad bio.

But it is a discussion about that book, and I want you to get that book. It's Banner of Truth, a little Puritan paperback, The Bruised Reed. I paid three bucks, I think, for it. It's probably ten now.

Who knows? If you don't want to buy that, you'd like to get more of Sibbes. You can get the newly released, newly reissued, I think, Banner of Truth, Richard Sibbes, The Works of Richard Sibbes. You can do that.

I want to say seven volumes. Or you can save money and go to Monergism, I believe it's .com. They have the book there in PDF, EPUB, MOBI, whatever you want. Therefore, you can just read it for free. What I did this morning as I was reading the real book, the paperback, I was underlining certain things.

I thought, I don't want to type all those great quotes out. I will just go to the PDF on Monergism, copy and paste.

That's what I did.

In light of Jesus dealing with bruised reeds and smoldering wicks, not breaking the reeds and not quenching the wicks, I thought I would have some quotes that would amplify the ministry of the Lord Jesus and edify you.

How about that? Amplify and edify. Soon, remember, and very soon, we will have the Cancer is Not Your Shepherd book, 31-Day Guide to Suffering. Half the book is written by me, days 1 -16. Days 17 -31, generic suffering chapters or days written by Spurgeon, Watson, etc.

Nothing by Sibbes. I should probably put Sibbes in there, but he's not in there right now. And then the newly updated Sexual Fidelity. I switched it around a little bit and now it's called the 31-Day Guide to Purity.

So now there's all these 31-Day Guides. We have Assurance. We have Suffering. We have Eye Cancer. And then we have Sexual Purity and we're working on the Parenting one. So maybe there are other topics.

I don't know. What if we did a Law Gospel 31-Day Guide to Good Theology? I was in the other day and my stomach was growling during the show and now it's growling again today. So I don't know really what that means, but I guess maybe I could probably use an Alka-Seltzer or something.

That's an old school commercial. Alka-Seltzer. Remember the fizzing? Remember what it tastes like? Since most of the people that listen to me are old like me, they'll know exactly. If you're young, why aren't you listening to a hipster cast?

Hipster pod. Remember? Don't say pod. Is my pod based? Bruised read quotes from Richard Sibbes. And then I'll elaborate. I'll truncate. I'll do whatever I think is best for radio. God calls him here in Isaiah 42, Matthew 12, His servant.

Christ was God's servant in the greatest piece of service that ever was. I mean, just stop there for a second. Think about all the service projects in the world. And sometimes we have service projects here at Bethlehem Bible Church and our youth ministry Cornerstone.

We'll go to the shut-ins homes or maybe widows homes or widowers homes that are needing some help. They even do the elders homes. And since I haven't been able to have too much strength the last few years between COVID, leukemia and other things, they've even shown up to my house and had a service project.

And I just have the pizza and the soda. And then they break up the leaves and they clean and they stack the wood and they horse around. Why do they call it horsing around? And it's a service project. That's a good service project.

And you probably have certain service projects as well at your church or maybe for someone else in the neighborhood. And maybe you don't call them service projects, but you serve them. You do something for someone else.

I love this line. I mean, it could be a whole show, could it not? And that's exactly right because he, the Lord, was sent for this very purpose. And we learned that from Isaiah 61. Remember when Jesus goes into the Nazareth synagogue and says, this is about me.

When it comes to Isaiah 61, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he, the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.

That's what the father sent the son to do. Could there be a greater service project? In this, Sibbes writes, we may see the sweet love of God to us and that he counts the work of our salvation by Christ, his greatest service.

And in that he will put his only beloved son to that service. He might well prefix it with behold, to raise up our thoughts to the highest pitch of attention and admiration. And that's exactly what we have in Matthew chapter 12, verse 18.

Behold, behold, to raise up our thoughts to the highest pitch of attention and admiration. Pay attention. Look, Sibbes, in time of temptation, apprehensive consciences look so much to the present trouble they are in that they need to be roused up to behold him in whom they may find rest for their distressed souls.

Did you get that?

Did you see that?

No.

You said I heard that.

Remember that?

Growing up, I heard that. Somebody said something good. I heard that. I heard that.

I heard that.

He had heard in temptations it is safest to behold nothing but Christ, the true brazen serpent, the true lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. John 1, 29. It's just wonderful. I mean, even just in this little paragraph, if you just stop and not try to speed read it, you begin to think this is exactly what my soul needs.

I'm to behold with highest attention and highest pitch of admiration. And if left to myself, I'm beholding my trials, beholding my troubles, beholding my sicknesses, beholding my weaknesses. And I have not to do that.

Sibbes, what a support to our faith is this, that God the Father, the party offended by our sins, is so well-pleased with the work of redemption. And what a comfort is this, that seeing God's love rest on Christ as well-pleased in him, we may gather that he is as well-pleased with us if we be in Christ.

For his love rests in a whole Christ. So that part comes from Matthew 12, 18. Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well-pleased. And therefore, if God the Father is well-pleased with the Son, and he is, and you're in the Son, then the Father is well-pleased with you.

And that's to support your faith. What a support to our faith is this, says Richard Sibbes. My Gabe and Rothno compromise radio ministry, we're talking about bruised reeds not breaking under the Messiah's ministry, and smoldering wicks not being quenched or snuffed out by the Messiah's ministry.

I was an acolyte at the Lutheran church growing up. E-L-C at the time. I think there was L-C-A and E-L-C, and then they combined to form one massive liberal conglomerate. E-L-C-A, right, the more conservative Lutheran churches.

Missouri Synod, although they've had some issues lately. Wisconsin Synod, I don't know what the difference is. I know the states are different, but I don't know the details of what's going on. There are some things in Lutheranism that I respect and other things I could do without.

I don't like it when Reformed people turn Lutheran. That's a whole other sermon. But I was taught to be an acolyte, to start the service, to go and light the candles. I think I was the first person out.

I had a robe on, and I was told how to carry the candle. What is the thing that an acolyte carries? On one side, it's got a wick, and you have a light there. It's lit, and you can pull the wick in and out if you want to make it longer or shorter or to stop the flame.

You pull it all the way inside of this little brass deal. And then if you flip it around on the opposite side, still holding the same handle, there's the little snuffer. And we were told to snuff it very gently because otherwise it would be hard for the next person to light.

So what happens, of course, the person before me, first service, snuffed it out. And then I'm up there trying to light the candle. It will not light. So what do you do? Just keep trying, trying, trying, trying, trying.

I mean, they're going to see that the six candles up on the altar, quotation marks, is not lit, and I didn't light it. But it wasn't my fault. So I tried and tried and tried. I don't know, for 30 seconds, getting pretty nervous.

Finally, I just had to sit down and had to confess to Pastor Ellison afterwards, snuffing too hard. Well, smoldering wicks, Jesus doesn't snuff at all. He doesn't quench them at all. Sibbes, we see, therefore, that the condition of those with whom he was to deal was that they were bruised reeds and smoking flax.

Not trees, but reeds. And not whole, but bruised reeds. The church is compared to weak things, to a dove amongst the fowls, to a vine amongst the plants, to sheep amongst the beasts. As a mother is tenderest, Sibbes says, to the most diseased and weak child, so does Christ most mercifully inclined to the weakest.

Now, I had heard something like that from Thomas Goodwin, that a pastor sent to me when I had prostate cancer. And I read it. I was actually at the Shepherd's Conference, and I read it while I was sitting there, and I just began to cry.

Well, here too, this Puritan, he, I think Goodwin is after Sibbes. Sibbes is earlier than Goodwin, so we'll give him the credit, Sibbes. Mother is tenderest to the most diseased and weakest child, so does Christ most mercifully inclined to the weakest.

So, do you see the comparison there? Let's say a mom has 10 children, and those 10 children are all running around playing, and happy, and fed, and healthy, and not sick. One gets sick. Well, that's going to make the mother do what?

Extra love, extra care, extra mercy, extra compassion, extra, extra. Well, if the mom does that, the mom's certainly not perfect. She's a sinner. Well, how much more does the Lord? So, when you're broken, bruised, smoldering, well, how does the Lord act?

And that's what Sibbes is after. And if you're listening today, and you've had a hard life, a hard week, a hard month, going through trials and issues, is not Jesus the most mercifully inclined to you?

Sibbes, Christ's sheep are weak sheep, and lacking in something or other. He therefore applies himself to the necessities of every sheep. He seeks that which was lost, and brings again that which was driven out of the way, and binds up that which was broken, and strengthens the weak.

Ezekiel 34, 16. His tenderest cares over the weakest. The lambs he carries in his bosom. He says to Peter, feed my lambs. He was the most familiar and open to troubled souls. How careful he was that Peter and the rest of the apostles should not be too dejected after his resurrection.

Go your way, tell his disciples, and Peter, Mark 16. Christ knew that the guilt of their unkindness in leaving him had dejected their spirits. How gently did he endure the unbelief of Thomas, and stoop so far unto his weakness as to suffer him to thrust his hand into his side.

Don't you like Sibbes? Don't you like the Lord? See what's happening? Do you see it? No, of course you don't, but you hear it, right? You can picture it. We see how our Savior, Christ, bore with Thomas in his doubting, and with the two disciples that went to Emmaus.

He quenched not that little light in Peter, which was smothered. Peter denied him, but he did not deny Peter. If thou wilt, thou can, said one poor man in the gospel, Matthew 8. If you can do anything, said another, Mark 9.

Both were smoking flax. Neither of them were quenched. If Christ had stood upon his own greatness, he would have rejected him that came with his if. But Christ answers his if with a gracious and absolute grant.

I will be clean. The woman that was diseased with an issue did but touch with a trembling hand, and but the hem of his garment. And yet she went away both healed and comforted. Because the disciples slept due to infirmity, being opposed with grief, our Savior, Christ, frames a comfortable excuse for them.

The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Mike Evendroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry. Richard the Sibbes, Bruised, reads,. If Christ should not be merciful, he would miss of his own ends.

There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Psalm 130, verse 4. Now all are welcome to come unto the banner of love which he spreads over his own. Now I'd like to talk a little bit to those who might teach the Bible.

Whether you're a mom teaching your children or whether you're a pastor. How might this truth that we've been talking about help you be a better Bible teacher, scripture, proclaimer? Very convicting when I read these words.

Shepherding Young Believers Without Crushing Tender Consciences

Preachers, said Sibbes, need to take heed therefore how they deal with young believers. Let them be careful not to pitch matters too high, making things necessary evidences of grace, which agree not to the experience of many a good Christian, and laying salvation and damnation upon things that are not fit to bear so great a weight.

In this way men are needlessly cast down and may not soon be raised up again by themselves or others. The ambassadors of a so gentle a Savior should not be overbearing, setting up themselves in the hearts of people where Christ alone should sit as in his own temple.

Too much respect to man was one of the inlets of potpourri. Let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ, neither more nor less, just so much. How careful was Paul in cases of conscience not to lay a snare upon any weak conscience.

Now my mind wants to say, do you see it? But I've already said that several times today. That's what my mind was thinking. You knew I was thinking that, right? Test of saving faith, bruised reeds, smoldering wicks.

How do we put all those things together? Is there a way to do it? Well, there's certainly a warning, and Sibbes gives you that warning. Take heed if you're preaching to make sure you deal rightly with young believers.

Setting the bar so high. Now, if the bar is, do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the risen Savior?

Okay.

No qualms, no quarrels with that. Remember, assurance is objective and subjective. And so if you want to put the objective side of the Lord Jesus in the frontmost of their minds and consciences, that if you aren't believing in the Lord Jesus, you aren't saved.

If you're not trusting in the risen Savior, you're not a believer. Okay, fine. So let's put that right down as our baseline. The subjective side, though, the Holy Spirit's work in your life in terms of fruit, in terms of maturation, in terms of He, the Spirit, progressively sanctifying you.

If you want to say imparting righteousness, if you want to say in the context of sanctification, infusing righteousness. I don't like to say it, but some people say it. There's growth. Sometimes people will ask me, well, you know, should I send my 17-year-old off to college 3 ,000 miles away?

They're really a mature Christian. They could handle it. I say to them nicely, and I've been around 28 years now, so I can just be a little more direct. It's impossible to be a 17-year-old child, young person, adult.

I don't really believe in adolescence. Technically, they are a teenager, I guess.

I guess I could believe that.

How can you be mature? I mean, I don't know how soon a person gets saved. That's the Lord's working. But while their body's growing, their mind's growing, while there's development physically and emotionally and everything else, I've never met a really mature 17-year-old.

Mature in the faith. Mature, yes, in life. That's true. But those even are fewer and far in between. Farther between? Not in between, but between.

Irregardless.

That was a joke.

New believers, whether they're 17 or whether they're 60 or whether they're 80, are like Luke Short when he got saved at 100. They are immature. Every new believer is immature. Fine, you can even read about it in 1 Corinthians 8 and Romans 14 and 15, other places.

And there's nothing wrong with an immature believer, unless they're an older believer and they're still immature. Then we would think that was not right. Therefore, when people are new Christians, you have to be careful that you don't put the bar so high.

How can you call yourself a Christian and give them all these things that must be evident in their life or else? So we want to be very careful. It was Rome that took away assurance. Somebody had to do a show called that.

Somebody had to repeat that like 15 to 50 times on a podcast, on a pod. It was Rome that took away assurance.

Did you know that?

It was Rome that took away assurance. And so, Pastor, be careful. Here's how Jesus deals with bruised reeds and smoldering wicks. Here's how Jesus, the servant in whom the Lord is well-pleased, deals with people.

Well, then how should we deal with people, especially when we're serving them God's Word? How should we do that? And I think the answer is obvious. We have to be very, very careful. We have to take heed in how we deal with them, not to pitch matters too high.

Basically saying, how can you call yourself a Christian unless you're acting like a 30-year-old-in-the-faith Christian? That's the issue. Well, my name is Mike Abenroth. Today was Richard Sibbes, the bruised reed, because it all pointed to Jesus Christ, the servant sent by God, whom had the Holy Spirit upon him and who proclaimed justice to the Gentiles.

My name is Mike Abenroth. No Copper Eyes Radio Ministry.