Christ: The Tender Preserver of His People

Driving home: Not to be admired from a distance, not to be longed after, not to be filling His people with nostalgia, but in the spirit of faith to fill them with confidence that all that He is as He is displayed in the Gospel records…

Martin quotes Hugh Martin's work to explain the significance of Matthew's beginning (historical Jesus) and end (abiding presence), setting the theological framework for understanding Christ's ongoing ministry.

of the abiding, abiding presence of the very Jesus whose record is given to us in the Gospel of Matthew. Now as Hugh Martin, a preacher, theologian and pastor of the previous generation in Scotland has so masterfully demonstrated in his classic work now printed under the title The Abiding Presence, here we have in this combination of Matthew 1-1 and Matthew 28-20, one of the most amazing and encouraging declarations of what lies at the very nerve centers of the Christian faith. And Hugh Martin goes on to comment

5:36 - 6:20 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Not to be admired from a distance, not to be longed after, not to be filling His people with nostalgia, but in the spirit of faith to fill them with confidence that all that He is as He is displayed in the Gospel records…

Hugh Martin's analogy of reading a biography of a noble person is used to show that if we only had a historical account of Jesus, we would feel admiration and longing, but also frustration at His absence.

and to, as it were, conjecture what it would be like if all we had was an accurate, historical, biographical account of the person and work, the ministry, the teaching, the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. If that's all we had, we would experience what we experience when we read the biography of a noble man or woman who has come across the stage of human history. If that biography is accurate and we see in that man or woman noble characteristics, great deeds accomplished for the advancement of the truth of God or humanity at large,

6:20 - 7:04 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Not to be admired from a distance, not to be longed after, not to be filling His people with nostalgia, but in the spirit of faith to fill them with confidence that all that He is as He is displayed in the Gospel records…

Hugh Martin's analogy of having only the promise of Jesus' presence without a record of His character is used to show that it would lead to mystical satisfaction but no concrete understanding of how He relates to us, leaving us to our own imagination.

Then Hugh Martin goes on to say, think how frustrating it would be if all we had was a record of His promised presence, but we had no Gospel account of what He was like. If all we had was the promise, lo I am with you, but no record of how He related to the downcast. How He dealt with those of weak faith. How He dealt with the outcasts.

9:04 - 9:34 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin meticulously explains the literal imagery: a reed as a fragile water plant easily broken when bruised, and smoking flax as a lamp wick with diminishing oil and little…

Jesus' reference to John the Baptist as 'a reed shaken with the wind' (Matthew 11:7) is used to illustrate the common understanding of a reed as a fragile, easily swayed plant.

And it's crucial that we grasp the imagery. And let's seek to do that. A bruised reed shall he not break. The reed is a hollow, tall, but fragile water plant.

19:15 - 19:27 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin meticulously explains the literal imagery: a reed as a fragile water plant easily broken when bruised, and smoking flax as a lamp wick with diminishing oil and little…

The use of a reed as a mock scepter for Jesus during His crucifixion (Matthew 27:29) is cited to show how common and readily available reeds were in Palestine.

And he could use that imagery because the reed was a common commodity to these in Palestine. So common that when our Lord is standing before that kangaroo court, the night before his crucifixion, and they put him into this posture of mock coronation as a king, and put on him in a purple robe, and put upon him a crown of thorns. It says in Matthew chapter 27 and verse 29, they put a reed, same word, a reed in his hand. They had them readily available.

20:36 - 21:09 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin meticulously explains the literal imagery: a reed as a fragile water plant easily broken when bruised, and smoking flax as a lamp wick with diminishing oil and little…

The description of smoking flax as a lamp wick with diminished oil, producing an acrid smell, is used to illustrate a waning spiritual condition, almost devoid of fire.

And when those fibers would be woven together into a wick, they would be placed into a bowl-like, vessel that held oil, and the wick would be pulled out one end of it. Often it was formed in such a way that it would cup the wick, and that flax served as the wick for that lamp. Now it says, a smoking flax he will not quench. Well, we are told by those who are knowledgeable in these things, and have even seen such lamps in our day in the Middle East, that when the supply of oil, would be diminished, the flax itself would begin to burn.

24:24 - 25:04 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The person whose spiritual condition is weak, flagging, and vulnerable, like the bruised reed, whose spiritual condition is such that it is waning in the fire of devotion and zeal, such a one will neither be crushed nor …

The figure of speech 'litotes' (stating something negatively to mean the opposite, e.g., 'no little pain' meaning 'much pain') is used to explain that 'not break' and 'not quench' mean Jesus will actively preserve and nurture.

smoking flax shall he not quench but most likely what we have here is a figure within the figure you have imagery used but used in the form of what's called a light at ease and a light at ease is a figure of speech many of us use it in which you state something and you mean just the opposite you state it negatively but you mean it just the opposite for example someone might say well look this cost me no little pain to make this for you what do we mean it cost me much pain or we may say there were not a few present what do we mean there were many present so when it is said that the

29:05 - 29:45 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Weak as the broken reed is, it shall not be broken. Small as the spark of fire may be within the smoking flax, it shall not be quenched. It is a standing truth in the kingdom of grace that weak grace, weak faith, and wea…

Martin quotes Bishop Ryle's expository thoughts to affirm that the bruised reed and smoking flax represent persons with weak grace, feeble repentance, and small faith, towards whom Christ is tender.

will never break off and cast away that believer who is like a bruised reed, nor extinguish that almost imperceptible fire of spiritual life in the one who is like a wick of smoking flax. Now it's interesting that in Bishop Ryle's expository thoughts when he comes to this very passage, beautifully states this perspective. In summary, What are we to understand by the bruised reed and the smoking flax? The language of the prophet no doubt is figurative.

30:26 - 31:05 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin illustrates this truth with examples from the Gospels, showing how Jesus dealt with John the Baptist's doubt and Peter's denial, nurturing their weak faith rather than…

John the Baptist's doubt in prison (Matthew 11:2-3), despite his previous strong declarations about Jesus, is presented as a prime example of a 'bruised reed' and 'smoking flax' whom Jesus tenderly restored.

Well, if you have any acquaintance with the gospel record, you know that the Lord Jesus deals precisely in this way with one after another after another. Just turn back to chapter 11 in this very gospel for a beautiful example. Of a bruised reed and of a smoking flax. And it's interesting because this is a man of whom Jesus spoke and said, he was a burning and a shining light.

33:10 - 33:44 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin illustrates this truth with examples from the Gospels, showing how Jesus dealt with John the Baptist's doubt and Peter's denial, nurturing their weak faith rather than…

Peter's denial of Jesus and subsequent bitter weeping, followed by Jesus' post-resurrection instruction to 'tell my disciples and Peter' and His tender questioning in John 21, illustrate Christ's refusal to break a bruised reed.

You can go through the Gospel records. We had some of it laid out so eloquently when Pastor Donnelly was here. You take Peter. Yes, there's a time when the Lord calls him adversary.

40:10 - 40:22 Read in full sermon

The point: Worship and admire such a Savior.

Martin quotes Samuel Davies, a colonial preacher, who describes Christ as possessing all virtues in highest perfection, harmonizing seemingly opposite traits like justice and mercy without running into extremes.

And yet the gentleness and the tenderness that it can be said that the bruised reed he will never break and the smoking flax he will never quench. In a very moving sermon on this text one of the most powerful preachers of the colonial period. Some say in their judgment the most powerful preacher that America has ever produced, Samuel Davies. He opened his exposition of this text with these words.

46:41 - 47:14 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But in Jesus Christ goodness and mercy are joined to this inflexible commitment to righteousness. These seemingly opposite virtues center and harmonize in the highest perfection without running into any extremes.

Davies' quote 'Right too rigid hardens into wrong' is used to illustrate how human virtues can become vices, contrasting with Christ's perfect balance of justice and tenderness.

The Lord Jesus possesses all those virtues in the highest perfection which render him infinitely amiable and qualify him for the administration of a just and gracious government over the world. The virtues of mortals when carried to a high degree very often run into those vices which have a kind of affinity to their very virtues. Then he quotes a statement that apparently was in vogue in his day. Right too rigid hardens into wrong.

47:14 - 47:52 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But in Jesus Christ goodness and mercy are joined to this inflexible commitment to righteousness. These seemingly opposite virtues center and harmonize in the highest perfection without running into any extremes.

The imagery of Christ as both the Lamb and the Lion of Judah is used to demonstrate His perfect balance of gentleness and power, showing He is 'all Lamb' when appropriate and 'all Lion' when appropriate.

goodness and mercy are joined to this inflexible commitment to righteousness. These seemingly opposite virtues center and harmonize in the highest perfection without running into any extremes. Hence he is at once set before us in scripture as the Lamb. Remember in John's vision I saw as it were a Lamb in the midst of the throne.

48:36 - 49:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Trust the Lord Jesus to be just such a Savior to you.

Martin shares a personal story of splinting a bruised shrub branch after an ice storm to restore its symmetry, illustrating how Jesus tenderly nurtures and preserves His people rather than breaking them off.

that when he passes by a bruised reed he just nudges it and sees it break. He stops and takes that bruised reed like I took one of the branches on one of the shrubs in front of my house in a shrub that is dependent for symmetry upon all of its branches and somehow during the ice storms last year one of them got bent over to where it would have been the easiest thing to just snap it off. But it would have destroyed the symmetry of that bush so I tenderly propped it up splinted it wrapped some duct tape around it and now it has joined the rest of its fellow branches.

50:38 - 51:20 Read in full sermon

The point: Imitate him in your dealing with others.

Martin recounts his own pastoral dealings with people confessing 'sordid declension,' where he responds with grace and humility, asking 'What do you want me to do? Spit on you?' to illustrate imitating Christ's gentleness.

Isn't that what Galatians 6 says? If a man be overtaken in a trespass, you that are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. How many times in pastoral dealings when people have come and had to expose. Some aspect of sordid declension from the Lord and they've looked at me and I've said, well, what do you want me to do?

59:00 - 59:29 Read in full sermon