If you will, take your Bibles
and turn with me to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. Tonight we'll be looking at verses
14 through 21. Matthew chapter 12, verses 14
through verse 21. The title of the message tonight
is, The Humility of Christ. The Humility of Christ. Just to let you know, I've been
trying to preach this message now for about two and a half
months, and the Lord has hindered me until this night. So I pray that the Lord would
bless it and that the Lord would bless the message to us tonight.
Matthew chapter 12, let's begin our reading in verse 14. Then the Pharisees went out and
held counsel against him, how they might destroy him. But when
Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence, and a great multitude
followed him, and he healed them all, and charged them that they
should not make him known, that it might be fulfilled which was
spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Behold my servant, whom
I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him,
and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive
nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax he shall not
quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name
shall the Gentiles trust. The humility of Christ. Now,
our Lord Jesus Christ, in this chapter, previously, He had declared
Himself to be the Lord of the Sabbath. If you look at that
in verse 8, He said, For the Son of Man is the Lord even of
the Sabbath day. And not only did He declare that
He was Lord, not only did He declare His deity, that He was
the Lord over the law of the Sabbath as all of the other parts
of the law. He was God. But He also proved
it by healing the man with the withered hand. He came into those
Pharisees' synagogue and they, tempting Him about this man,
He asked them, He said, if you have a goat or a sheep or an
oxen in a ditch, would you not pull him out on the Sabbath?
I know you would. They knew they would. They had
no compassion for men. They had no heart for men. And
legalists never have a heart of compassion for men's souls.
And He healed that man. So He not only said and declared
His deity, but He also proved it by His healing of this man
in their presence. And even though Jesus proclaimed
Himself to be God manifest in the flesh, and by power proved
it, yet these Pharisees still desired to kill Him. They still
wanted to kill Him. These self-righteous religionists
sought to condemn the Lord and His disciples for picking up
corn of wheat by their hands. They said, ah, you're breaking
the traditions. Your disciples picked up the
corn and ate it on the Sabbath day. They tried to accuse the
Lord of healing that man on the Sabbath day. They tried to condemn
Him, and yet here they are. What are they doing on the Sabbath?
They held counsel how they might destroy Him. You see, they saw no problem
with holding counsel to murder an innocent man, yet they saw
evil in picking up corn on the Sabbath and healing. These self-righteous religionists
sought to condemn the Lord and to kill Him. In their depraved
hearts, they truly hated God. The very things that should have
caused them to come to Christ, namely His Word and His power,
were the very things that caused them to hate Christ. It moved them to further hatred.
And this is also true of religionists or persons who go about to establish
their own righteousness. You name a man or a religion
that goes about to establish their own righteousness, they
hate God. They hate God. And when the Word of God is declared,
that man is absolutely, completely and utterly depraved. that he
is unable and unwilling to come to God, that he cannot please
God by his works. When God reveals this to a man,
that his will is not free, but rather enslaved to sin, when
that doctrine is preached, when that is revealed to a man's heart,
he'll hate God for it. He'll hate God for it. When the
Word of God is preached, That redemption for sinners is only
found in Jesus Christ alone? That God saves by His blood and
righteousness alone apart from law, apart from works, apart
from will? That Jesus Christ is the only
one who can completely atone for sins and impute righteousness
to everyone that believe it? This message should bring sinners
to Christ, shouldn't it? You're depraved. You're a sinner. You're unable and unwilling to
come to God. Christ died for sinners. Now,
is that not a message that should make people run to Christ? Yes. That should make people flee
to Christ. But instead, it does the opposite
with the religious, natural man. It makes him oppose Christ. Oppose
Christ. And friends, These men heard
the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and saw His power and
they still rejected Him. Friends, unless the Word of God
is accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit, it does not
matter how you say something or what you say, men will hate
you if you preach the Gospel to them. The power of the Spirit must
quicken the dead, depraved, self-righteous man. This message will only move them
to hatred and malice rather than salvation if it is not accompanied
by the Spirit of God. Psalm chapter 2 and verse 1 says,
Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against His anointed." Is that not what
they did? They took counsel to destroy Him. They say, let us
break their bands asunder and cast their cords from us. Believer in Christ, hear me.
Don't be discouraged when people hate the gospel. If they did
not receive it at the Lord's hands, what makes you think they'll
receive it at your hands if the Spirit of God is not accompanying
your message? They won't. Don Fortner said
this, he said, It's not our weakness, infirmities, or faults, or even
our obedience that stirs up the wrath of the reprobates, but
our doctrine of the gospel of Christ. That's what stirs up
the anger and hostility of men against us. In every... If they hated this holy and harmless
and perfect Son of God, in which they could not find fault, do
you not think that they will hate us also?" Christ said they
would. He said, if the world hates you,
know this, it hated me before it hated you. That's comforting. That's comforting. In verse 23 of that same chapter
in John 15, the Lord says, He that hateth Me, hateth My Father
also. Now a man could say he loves
Jesus all he wants to. But I'll tell you what, if he
denies this Gospel, he is a hater of God. He is a hater of God.
He hates the Father also. What did the Lord do? What did
the Lord do when these men decided to take counsel against Him?
Let's see. Look at this in verse 15. It says, But when the Lord
Jesus knew it, He withdrew Himself from them. He left. I like that. He left. He left. You see, it wasn't His time.
It wasn't His hour yet. There was an hour coming in which
He would be delivered into the hands of sinful men, but it was
not yet, and Jesus left them alone. He left them alone. In John chapter 4, the Lord Jesus
Christ, it is said of Him and His disciples, when therefore
the Lord knew that the Pharisees heard that Jesus had more baptisms
than John, He left. That's good. I'll tell
you, that's a good example for us. When men start being stirred
up in anger and hatred toward us and toward the gospel, the
best thing to do is leave. Leave. Don't haggle with self-righteous
religious men. It's no avail. It's no avail. He left. If the Lord left, why
should not we? We're not here to debate the
Gospel. I'm here to declare the Gospel. I'm just here to tell
you what God says. I'm not here to haggle about
it. I'm here to just tell you. That's all I am, is a messenger,
to tell you what God says. He left. And so should we. We should depart
from these wicked men and leave them to themselves. And Jesus left not only because
He wished not to haggle with these men, but He also left that
the Scriptures might be fulfilled. But when Jesus knew it, He left
and withdrew Himself thence, and the great multitudes followed
Him, and He healed them all and charged them that they should
not make Him known that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken
of Isaiah the prophet." Everything the Lord did, He did in fulfillment
of Scripture. The Old Testament Scriptures,
they all speak of Christ. If you're ever studying the Scriptures,
especially in the Old Testament, make a beeline to Christ immediately. They all speak of Him. He fulfilled
the Scriptures. How did He fulfill the Scriptures?
By becoming a servant of God. He became a servant. Now, even after He had manifest
His greatness, When He manifested His greatness in telling them
His Word, I am the Lord, and proving it by healing that man,
He left that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. He humbled Himself. He humbled Himself. Can you not
see that? He went from showing His greatness to humility. And usually you'll notice this,
when He is in the midst of humility, it's then He shows His greatness.
Think of the cross. Is that not the greatest act
of humility of the Lord Jesus Christ? And then yet what's next?
He rises from the grave to show His greatness. His greatness. And here we see the Lord showing
His greatness and then backing down in humility. Why? Because He must fulfill the Scriptures
which determine that He would be the servant of God. Which
declare He must be the servant of God. You remember when He
fed those 5,000? He showed His deity, didn't He?
Five loaves and a few fishes and fed the multitudes. And what'd
they say? Hey, let's make Him a king! And
what did He do? He didn't want any part of that.
He subjected Himself. He was already king. He knew
that, but yet He went into humility. He was humility. He humbled Himself
because this was in fulfillment of Scripture. He was the servant
of God. And notice what Jesus did when
He withdrew Himself. He healed them all. Now that's
great humility, isn't it? How many of those do you suppose
were at His crucifixion, yelling, crucify Him, crucify Him? Without limitation, He healed
everyone that followed Him. That's amazing humility, isn't
it? I'll tell you what, even if I had power to heal, I'd get
tired. I'd get tired of people coming to me. I imagine I would
send people away. He didn't. He didn't. He humbled Himself and He healed
them all. Why did the Lord do this? Why
did He not take opportunity to spread His fame? He bested the
Pharisees, didn't He? He showed them up in front of
everybody. Why did He not take that opportunity
to exalt Himself in front of everyone? When He healed all those people,
is that not something that should be praised? Is that not something
we not think that should be spread throughout the land? Yes. That's
what we think. But he said, he charged them
that they should not make him known. Let me ask you this, is
it not our human nature if we have some special ability to
show it off? Is that not our nature? If we've
got something that somebody else wants, hey look at this, look
what I've got. I've got something you don't.
It's our nature. It's our sinful nature. Why? We want glory. That's it. We want some type of praise from
men. And yet here the Lord of glory
Himself was humbled so low that He charged them not to tell anybody. John 5.43 says, I came in my
Father's name and you receive me not. If I
would have come in somebody else's name, if some other man had come
in his own name, him you'd receive, right? How do you think radio
stars make it today? Don't you hear them on the radio
boasting their knowledge and their self, and people just love
that. They love that. When a man's boasting on himself,
I'm the smartest man in all the world, you should hear me, and
people just flock to it. It's our nature. Jesus didn't
come in His own name, He came in His Father's name. John 15, verse 19, He said, If
you were the world, the world would love His own. The world
loves a man who comes in His own name. But Jesus came into
the world not in His own name, not to do His own will, but rather
He came to be a servant of God. He came to be a man so that He
might serve God in absolute perfection, in absolute humility. And this
is what Isaiah spoke of in Isaiah chapter 42. If you want to go
there and read that after the service, that's fine. You can
read that passage. But all the Scriptures, know
this, all the Scriptures spoke of Christ. All the Law pictured
Christ. And if you'll notice, all of
the pictures of Christ are pictures of deity and humiliation. All
the pictures. Think of that lamb that was slain.
Is that not an humble picture of the Lord Jesus Christ? A lamb
who puts his hand on it and he slits his throat. Is that not humility? You think
of that tabernacle. On the inside it was decorated
with embroidered work of gold. But what was on the outside?
Badger skin. It was nothing. You look at that
tent on the outside, you could see nothing. The Lord humbled
Himself and became a man. When He walked among men, you
could not tell the difference between Him and any other man.
He was a man. He was as much man as if He was
not God, and as much God as if He were not man. The God-man. And as the God-man, he became
the bond-slave of God. The bond-slave. You remember
in Exodus chapter 21, how that they gave the law of the bond-slave,
that if he was enslaved to a man, and he had a wife and children
while he was in that man's service, if he wanted to stay with his
wife and children and keep them, he would have to bow down to
his master and have his ear bore through with an awl. He would have to say, I love
my master, I love my wife, I love my children. And they would take
his ear to a door post and they would put a spike right through
his ear and he would serve that man forever. That is exactly
a picture of what Christ has done. God had given Christ a
people, a wife, His bride, the church. And Christ from all eternity
said, I love my Master, I love God. I love my wife, my children,
my church. And He came down into the form,
He took a form of a man, the nature of a man. And He humbled
Himself and became obedient, the Scripture says, even unto
the death of the cross. He became obedient to God as
God's servant. He being God's eternal Son, equal
with the Father and equal with the Spirit, yet condescended
to become a man. He united deity and humanity
for the purpose of redeeming his people from the law. In the
few minutes remaining, I want us to take a look at what God
says about His servant. Christ is the servant of God. First of all, let's see this,
that He says, Behold, My servant whom I have chosen. Jesus Christ
is God's elect servant. He is the elect of God. God chose Christ to be the Mediator,
the Redeemer and Savior of His people before the foundation
of the world. From all eternity, God set Christ
up to be the Mediator of the new covenant. The covenant of
grace. Friend, Adam was not plan A and
Christ plan B. Adam was never plan A. Christ
was always plan A. He was the only plan of God for
salvation. He was the elect of God, not
Adam. He was the elect of God. He was
God's servant. Adam is God's creature, as like
we are. We are all supposed to be servants
of God. We are His creatures. But He
is the elect servant of God. The elect Savior of His people. When Adam rebelled, who was it,
do you think, was walking in the cool of the day? It was the
Lord Jesus Christ. What did He come to do? He came
to reveal the covenant of grace. The seed of the woman shall bruise
the head of the serpent. That was the plan! That was the
plan from all eternity. That Christ would come. That
He would show mercy. that he would take upon himself
the seed of a woman and humble himself as the servant of God. Number two, that he is the beloved
servant. He said, Whom I have chosen,
my beloved. In Proverbs chapter 8 and verse
30, Proverbs chapter 8, speaking of wisdom, which is Christ, He
says this in verse 30, He said, I was daily His delight. Before
there was ever anything created, Christ says, I was daily the
delight of my Father. He was one with the Spirit and
shared in the glory of God from all eternity. When John 17, that
high priestly prayer, Jesus talking to the Father, He says, Father,
give me the glory that I had with Thee from the beginning.
Give me that glory. Jesus always had the glory of
a God from eternity. But now He is the Son given for
salvation. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only beloved, begotten Son. Is that not great love? Is that not great love? Is that
not great mercy? You bet. You bet. God gave His
beloved. He gave us, His people, the best
gift that He could give. What did He give? Himself. He
gave Himself. I love this song. It says, Great
is the Father's love for us. How vast beyond all measure that
He would give His only Son to make a wretch his treasure."
Is that not grace? That is grace. And even in the darkest time,
even when Christ hung on the cross and bore the guilt of His
people, bore the shame of our sins, even then, when God was
pouring out His wrath on His Son, He loved Him. God always
loved His Son and delighted in His Son. Number three, this servant
is well-pleasing. Look at that. He says, Whom in
whom my soul is well-pleased. Not only was God's love upon
Christ, but God's favor was upon Christ at all times. At all times. From all eternity, Christ praised
God and was His beloved, but now He prays, He pleads God,
not as the Son of God, but as the servant of God, as the mediator
of God's covenant. Christ became a servant, not
for His own righteousness, but for the righteousness of His
people. He came to be a servant of God because we wouldn't, because
we couldn't. He did. He did. And He brought in an everlasting
righteousness for His people by His obedience, by His faithfulness
to the will of God. This, God said, is My beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. Jesus Christ always pleased the
Father in His life, and Jesus Christ pleased the Father in
His death. He satisfied God's justice. Jesus said, therefore,
the Father loveth me because I lay down my life, that I might
take it again. The Father loved Him because
of His sacrifice. And friends, if God will love
any man, If God will be pleased with any son of Adam, it must
be in Christ. Nowhere else. God will not love
a sinner outside of Christ. God will not love a man outside
of His perfect obedience. We must be in Christ or we have
no hope. Only He pleased the Father. And
you know what? When He pleased the Father, everyone
who believes on Him, they pleased the Father when He did. When
He walked on this earth in righteousness, I walked on this earth in righteousness. When He died on the cross, I
died on the cross. When He rose again, I rose again. When He sat on the throne, I
sat on the throne. That's how much we are in union
with Christ if we are His people. We are totally secure in Christ. Totally. Why? Because He always
pleased the Father. He always pleased the Father.
And you know what? I pleased the Father too in Him. In Him, I pleased the Father. Lastly, look at the character
of this servant. The character of Jesus Christ.
He did not exalt Himself When Jesus was 12 years old,
His family, they went to the feast and then they went back
and they lost Him. They couldn't find Him. They
went back to Jerusalem. They searched for three days
looking for this little boy, little Jesus. He was 12 years
old. And when they found Him, they
found Him in the temple teaching. He was teaching and they were
astonished. The doctors were astonished at His teaching. and
his mother being worried about him, of course. Where were you? We missed you. And Jesus, looking
at her, He said this, How is it that you sought Me? Didn't
you know to be about My Father's business? Can you imagine that? He said, Why are you looking
for Me? You knew this. You knew I should be about My
Father's business. And friends, He was about His
Father's business. His whole life was about His
Father's business. Every thought was about His Father's
business. Every word, every deed, every
action was about His Father's business. He did always please
God and not Himself. He humbled Himself under the
will of God. He did this for us so that we
might have a righteousness. And He died the death of the
cross in humility as a servant. And friends, I want you to see
this. He willingly did it. Christ willingly died. He wasn't
forced to be the surety of His people. He willingly did it. And all those persecutions and
hostilities against Him, He willfully took that. And He knew that the
Father would give Him that cup of dregs of our sins, and He
willingly drank it. Christ saved us on purpose. Isn't that great? He saved us
on purpose. He willingly did it. He came to please the Father,
and He did so. He was always about His Father's
business. Believers, should we not also be about our Father's
business? Why is it that God has not taken
us to heaven as soon as He saved us? We have business. We have business. And we should be about our Father's
business. And all the other things we do
should be toward our Father's business. Our business should
be toward our Father's business. Our children, our families, our
lives, everything we have should be geared toward the gospel of
Christ. Everything. Number two, he was
a servant of God, was kind and gentle. Look at that in verse
20, of Bruce Reed, shall he not break in smoking flax, he shall
not quench. When God's servant was come,
he was given the Spirit of God that he might give salvation
to sinners. These Gentiles were aliens from
the commonwealth of Israel and strangers, but Christ in kindness
would bring His salvation to them. He said He shall show judgment. That word judgment should be
translated salvation to the Gentiles. And in verse 20, He said He shall
send forth salvation unto victory. Think of the mercy. and grace
of compassion and compassion of Christ to save wicked sinners. Christ said, I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. That is gracious. That is kind. And I'll tell you,
when the Word of God comes in power to a soul, he becomes like
a bruised reed, doesn't he? What's a reed? What's the value
of a reed? Nothing. That's what we are by
nature. But when the Holy Spirit comes,
it bruises us. It brings us to a lowest state
before God. And know this, when God brings
us to a lowest state and realizes, we realize our sin, He says a
bruised reed he shall not break. Is that not gracious? Is it not gracious that the Lord
saves sinners? That's kind. And smoking flax
He shall not quench. And this is to us believers.
When our faith is weak and our grace is low, we're like a smoking
wick from a lamp. No flame. But praise God He will not put
it out. If He has given us true faith
in Christ, that faith will never be put out. Why? He's the author
and He's the finisher of our faith. That's what the Scripture
says. He says He is the author and
the finisher of our faith. And He says He won't put it out,
but He'll fan the flame of faith in our hearts. How? By the Gospel. By the Gospel. And He is a victorious
servant. In Isaiah 42, in this same passage,
in Isaiah 42, verse 4, it says, He shall not fail nor be discouraged. Believers, our Savior was not
a failure, as the world would have us believe. Our Savior accomplished
salvation. He finished it. When He was dying
on the cross, He said, It is Finished. What was finished?
The redemption of His people. The justification of His people.
The redemption of our sins was accomplished in Christ. He brought
forth victory. Victory. We preach a victorious
Savior. Christ did not fail and He was
not discouraged. He is a successful servant. And because He was successful,
friends, we have hope. Hope. Do you realize we have
an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for us? And who shall take it from us?
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justifies. Who is He that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. Yea, rather is risen again. And
He's seated on the throne. And He shall bring everyone He
purposed to save. He shall bring them to Himself. He is a victorious servant. God
is well pleased with Him. He was God's elect servant. God's
beloved servant. And He was God's victorious servant.
And friends, we bow to Him. And in him we have full, complete
salvation. May God add this to blessing,
this word to your, a blessing to your heart tonight. I pray
God will bless it. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed in prayer.