Bruised Reeds - Matthew 12:14-50

Highlights:

* It is a real test to keep your eyes on Jesus when those around you, including people you love, are telling you that you are looking at the wrong thing.

* What is a bruised reed?
It is a thin stalk that has been hit by a person or animal passing over it, or bent by the wind. It is not broken, not folded down in half, but is so damaged that almost anything else that touches it, even a breeze blowing over it, will finish it off.

What is smoldering (smoking) flax?
Flax is a thin, strawy plant which, once burned, cannot be rekindled. Its ashes are so light and fluffy that to try to rekindle it by blowing on it would blow it away.

The real question is, WHO is a 'bruised reed' and WHO is "smoldering flax"?
Examples:
1. The woman caught in adultery and brought to Jesus for judgment. [impossible to save, but Jesus said he would not condemn her, only "Go and sin no more."]
2. King David, caught in adultery and in murder. [impossible to save, but he became one of the greatest men of God in the Bible.]
3. Mary Magdalene, possessed by seven demons. [impossible to save, but she was chosen by God to be the first person to see Jesus after he rose from the dead.]
4. The thief nailed and hanging on a cross beside Jesus, dying and moments away from going into hell. [impossible to save, but Jesus told him, "Today, you will be with me in Paradise.]
5. A proud young Pharisee named Saul of Tarsus, who held cloaks for men while they stoned righteous young Stephen to death and who hated the very name of Jesus. [impossible to save, but Jesus said of him, "This man is my chosen vessel, to bear my name before nations and kings and the sons of Israel."]
6. You and I were bruised reeds, impossible to fix, "for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23​).
7. My Uncle Joe was a bruised reed when he was in the army, lying in his bunk reading the Bible and learning that he had done things worthy of death.
8. Jesus' disciples found out they were bruised reeds when they asked Jesus who could escape damnation, and he said "With men, it is impossible" (Mk. 10:27​).

* Jesus didn't break us. He didn't blow us out. He gave us hope, and a promise. His love for us was so great that he was determined to accomplish his mission and save us, no matter how fierce the opposition.

* "Son of David" was a title for the Messiah

* Jesus was the first person ever to say that the ruler of demons, whom Jews of the time called Beelzebul, was, in fact, Satan, heaven's fearsome Prosecutor.

* God used Satan when dealing with some important people, afflicting Job, deceiving David in order to punish the whole nation of Israel (2Sam. 24:1; 2Chron. 21:1), and putting Israel's High Priest on trial (Zech. 3).

* Everywhere Satan shows up in Israel's scriptures, the scriptures that we call the Old Testament, he is seen carrying out God's commands, and nowhere in Israel's scriptures is Satan ever spoken of as evil.

* The kingdom of God had come to Israel because the Spirit was in Jesus, and the kingdom of God is "righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost."

* There is no middle ground in spiritual warfare.

* Whoever is not walking in the light of God is working against Jesus, whether he thinks so or not.

* Whoever is not walking in the Spirit is a stumbling-block for the little ones in the family of God.

* Whoever is not walking in the Spirit is adding to the world's pressure against the body of Christ to see himself as small and unimportant, instead of loved and wanted by God.

* People worry that they have committed the unpardonable sin. First of all, you should know that the only people who CAN commit that crime are those who belong to God, which in this covenant means those who have the Spirit.

* Sinners can blaspheme, that is, speak evil of, God and Jesus, but they do not have the power to commit the unforgivable kind of blasphemy.

The description of unforgivable blasphemy is found in the book of Hebrews (6:4-6).
So, those who commit the unforgivable sin are those who blaspheme the holy Ghost after they have:
1. been enlightened
2. tasted the heavenly ggift
3. partaken of the holy Spirit
4. tasted of the good word of God
5. tasted of the powers of the world to come

I say it this way: very few of God's people qualify to be a Judas. They never get close enough to Jesus to betray him.

Blasphemy is a form of despising the holy Ghost after it washes us from sin.

* One of the things my father emphasized to us was that someone who knows the truth and has tasted of the real power of God can be fooled and overcome by a weakness. But to be fooled and do wrong is not "willfully sinning" (Heb. 10:26​).

* No unclean spirit leaves voluntarily; only the power of god makes a demon leave.

*Be thankful for and committed to the family that God has given you, and enjoy the people in it.