Go with me, if you would, back
to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. In the beginning
of this chapter, as our brother just read to us, some Pharisees
accused the disciples of not resting on the Sabbath. And the
Lord set them straight by telling them, I am their Sabbath, they're
resting on me. Verse eight says, for the son
of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day. Now let's read the verses again
that will be our text for this morning. Verse 9 says, And when
he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue. And behold,
there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked
him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days that
they might accuse him? And he said unto them, What man
shall there be among you that shall have one sheep, and if
it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on
it and lift it out? How much then is a man better
than a sheep? Wherefore, it is lawful to do
well on the Sabbath days. Then saith he to the man, stretch
forth thine hand. and he stretched it forth, and
it was restored whole, like as the other. Then the Pharisees
went out and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.
But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence, and 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 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 shall he not
quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory, and in his name
shall the Gentiles trust. The last four verses there, They
are quoting Isaiah 42, which is a glorious portion of Scripture. That is where the Father is declaring
these things concerning the Son. And when I first was studying
this and I was looking at this account, I thought that we would
look at this man with the withered hand today And then we would
look at the quotation of Isaiah 42 next time. But as this opened
up to me, as I started seeing this, I realized they are the
beautiful explanation of one another. And I can't help but
preach them together. And I believe you're gonna see
this. This is absolutely glorious. I have never seen this in this
light before. And this is just wonderful to
me. I want to begin by reading the actual verses in Isaiah 42. Turn with me if you would there.
Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42. The heading at the top of my
page says, this is the office of Christ. This is God the Father declaring
Christ. He is announcing Christ, all
right? Verse one, he says, behold, my
servant. My servant. My servant. Though Christ thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, equal with God the Father,
equal with God the Son, equal with God the Spirit. That's what
I meant to say. He made himself of no reputation
and he took upon him, he took upon himself willingly the form
of a servant. a servant of God, a servant for
his people. And he was made in the likeness
of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Though he were a son, Yet learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered, suffered for his
people. And being made perfect, the perfect
offering, the perfect sacrifice, he became the author of eternal
salvation unto all them that obey him. God the Father said,
behold, my servant. Behold my servant, verse one. Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
mine elect. God the Father said, I choose
him. I choose him. He is the one who is well-pleasing
in my eyes. He is the only one worthy of
my choosing. I choose Him. We are only chosen
in Him. There is nothing well-pleasing
about us in God's eyes. And I want to repeat that. There
is nothing well-pleasing about us in God's eyes. The scripture
says, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is nothing about us that
is worthy of His choosing. The Scripture says, there is
none that doeth good, no, not one. Christ is the worthy one. Christ
is the worthy one. We are only worthy. We are only
chosen. We're only accepted in Him. That's
it. In Him. Verse 1 says, Behold
my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth,
I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed
shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. What does that mean? We're about
to find out. We're about to find out. He goes on to say, he shall bring
forth judgment unto truth. And this is my one of, I have
about 12,000 favorite lines in the scripture and this is one
of them. Verse four says, he shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have
set judgment in the earth and the isles shall wait for His
law. Here is the glorious announcement
concerning Him. God the Father said, He's coming
to accomplish the work that I've sent Him to do, and He shall
not fail. And in the process of this particular
work, He will not break one bruised reed. and he will not quench
one smoking flax." What is a bruised reed? Don't
turn, but a couple of chapters before this, in Isaiah 40, the
Lord said, all flesh is grass. All flesh is grass. A reed is
a blade of grass. It's a tall blade of grass. It
spiritually represents a soul that has been brought down, a
bruised reed. A soul that has been brought
down, bruised to the point that it can't stand up proudly. You've
seen bruised grass stepped on or laid down Bent down, humbled
down, so bruised, all it can do is lay in the dust, that's
it. Just lay there in its helpless state. Unable to do anything
to lift itself back up. Does that remind you of anybody?
That reminds me of me. That represents the sinful soul
that has been cast down to a hopeless state, bruised to a hopeless
state, cursed by the law, bruised by the fall. That's me. And that's you. And that's the truth. A lot of
people don't know that, but that's me. And that's you. Men and women naturally don't
know that we are bruised grass. All flesh is grass before God. Just grass. That's all it is. Bruised. What is smoking flax? Smoking flax is a candle that
all the fire has gone out. Our Lord said, you are the light
of the world. But that smoke comes when the
fire goes out. As soon as the fire goes out,
it just starts. No light left. No light left. Nothing but darkness, no warmth,
no benefit, nothing to offer, just empty and extinguished. That is me, and that is you. That's me, and that's you. Spiritually, we have fallen to
a bruised state of helplessness and emptiness, and we have no
ability in ourselves to redeem us back to what we were. None
whatsoever. And it's because of our sin. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Unable, helpless, hopeless, all
we can do is exist in our bruised and our dark state before God. That's where He found us when
He came to us. That's where we were when He
brought the gospel to us. That's who the gospel is for. That's who the gospel is for,
the bruised and extinguished. To every soul who's in that state,
the gospel comes and cries, you will not be broken. Salvation has come to you. Behold
my servant. I've sent him to you because
you and every soul who is in that state with you, That's who
I've chosen to save. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel message. The gospel is all about what
Christ came to do for bruised, helpless, darkened sinners. Look with me at Isaiah 61. The heading at the top of my
page says, The Office of Christ. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. Isaiah 61 verse 1 says, The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort
all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give
unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the
garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might
be called trees of righteousness." Not bruised reeds. Trees of righteousness. The planting of the Lord that
he might be glorified. The Lord Jesus Christ said, that
is the work that has been given to me. That's who the work is
for. And I'm not going to fail in
it. I'm not going to fail." And he didn't. And he gave us an example of
that to prove that to us. In our text, our Lord walked
up to a bruised reed. He looked over and he saw flax
smoking. And he walked up to that man
and he said, salvation has come to you. Go with me back over
there to Matthew 12. Matthew 12 verse 9, it says, And when he was departed thence,
he went into their synagogue, and behold, there was a man which
had his hand withered. Sometimes, this is important
to know, sometimes our Lord heals our physical ailments and diseases,
and sometimes He doesn't. Sometimes He does, and sometimes
He doesn't. This has nothing to do with a
physical healing. If God physically heals us, we
thank Him for it. But our number one prayer and
desire and hope is that He will heal our spiritual sickness. That's what we need. This represents
a spiritual healing. the spiritual condition of every
child of God when Christ comes to him or her. This is the spiritual salvation
he brings. In this man's ailment, he was
dead. His hand was dead. When it says
he had a withered hand, that means his hand was dead. There
was no life there. There was no ability there. That
hand could do nothing. Verse 10 and behold, there was
a man which had his hand withered and they asked him saying, is
it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days that they might accuse him?
And he said unto them, what man shall there be among you that
shall have one sheep? And if it fall into a pit on
the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it and lift it out?
He's calling them hypocrites. He said, if one of your own sheep
fell into a pit on the Sabbath day because of your selfishness,
you would lift it out. You wouldn't want to leave your
sheep in that pit. You would lift it out and you would lie
to yourself and convince yourself that you didn't break the law
on the Sabbath day. But he said, because of your
pride and your self-righteousness, you won't do that for another
man. You'll leave that man there. Proud grass, a proud reed. That's what he said they were. Proud grass gets cut down. Verse
11 says, he said unto them, what man shall there be among you
that shall have one sheep? And if it fall into a pit on
the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it and lift it out?
How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore, it is
lawful to do well on the Sabbath days." He said, you would lay
hold of your sheep and lift it out. And he said, so will I. That's my sheep. And I'm going to deliver him
from going down to the pit because I found a ransom. Verse 13, then
saith he to the man, stretch forth thine hand, and He stretched
it forth, and it was restored whole like as the other. Then
the Pharisees went out and held a council against Him, how they
might destroy Him. But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew
Himself from thence, and great multitudes followed Him, and
He healed them all on the Sabbath day." He healed them all. They just kept coming, and He
just kept healing them. Verse 16, 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 shall he not quench,
till he send forth judgment unto victory, and in his name shall
the Gentiles trust." Our Lord brings salvation to every one
of His fallen sheep. Everyone who have fallen into
the pit of sin and despair and death, He lays hold of every
one of His sheep and He lifts them out. From this account,
we can see how our Lord deals with His sheep and delivers His
sheep. From how the Lord dealt with
this man, we can see how our Lord deals with his people in
salvation every single time, all right? Let me give you a
few things here. I'm headed toward closing. I'm
not gonna take too long. Number one, based on how our Lord dealt with
this man, we can see that there is no free will in salvation. Man does not have a free will
in determining whether or not he is going to be saved. If this man had a free will to
heal himself, he would have already been healed, and he would not
have needed Christ to come do it for him. The fact of the matter is, this
man remained in his condition until God came to him and healed
him of it. Now, I wanna make this so clear. I wanna make this so, so clear. Imagine this man with his hand,
okay? This man could have gone around
telling everybody I have decided that my hand works now." Okay? He could have gone around
telling everybody, I have decided that my hand works now. Telling
everybody. Let it be known to everybody.
My hand works. And that would not have changed
the condition of his hand. He could go tell everybody, just
tell everybody. That would not have changed one
thing about the condition of his hand. Men and women can go
around telling everybody, I have decided to be saved. I'm saved. That does not change their condition
before God one bit. Men and women can go shout that
from the mountaintops. I'm saved. Why are you saved? Because I want to be. Do you
think that man wanted his hand to be healed or not? No, I prefer
it to just stay like that. I want to be saved. And I've
decided I'm going to be saved. Therefore, I'm saved. Changes
nothing. Changes nothing. We are fallen. We are bruised. We are dark. We are sinful. That's how we are before God.
And we can go around telling everybody, I'm not that. It doesn't
change anything. It doesn't change anything. There
is no free will of man in salvation. The only way that salvation comes
is by God bringing it to a center and working it in a center. That's
the only way. That is the only way. It is God's will alone. It is God's will alone. God's people are taught this
and they say, it's not my will, it's your will. What's gonna
happen to me? Well, that's not my decision,
that's your decision. It's God's will alone. That man was at the mercy of
the Lord. That man was at the mercy of
the Lord coming to him, passing by his way, being willing to
do this for him. That man was at the mercy of
the Lord. James 1.18 says, of his own will
begat he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind
of first fruits of his creatures, his will. All right, that's the
first thing. Number two, There is no offer in salvation. The Lord did not offer him anything. The Lord did not ask him anything. In the other accounts, if we
went to Mark and Luke, it says that the Lord said to him, stand
up. He didn't give him an option
in the matter. He said, this is happening to
you. This is happening to you. So there's no free will in salvation. There is no offer in salvation. Number three, there is no cooperative
effort in salvation. The Lord said to this man, stretch
forth your hand. That man couldn't do that. That
man had spent his whole life knowing he can't do that. You take the first step, God
will take the second. No, that's not so. Man can't
do that. Not a lame man, not a... Walk
up to a casket and say, if you'll take the first step, I'll take
the second. That man can't do that. With that man, it's impossible. This is no cooperative effort. That was all the Lord's doing. That man could tell you, my brain
has tried to make that hand work. I can't do it. He knew that's
the Lord's work. It is God which worketh in us
both to will and do of His good pleasure. So there's no free
will in salvation. There is no offer in salvation. There is no cooperative effort
in salvation. Salvation is a sovereign command. He says to the blind, look. He says to the dead, live. When God Almighty sends that
command forth, it produces an immediate response to the one
that's given to them. He said, stretch forth your hand. The end of verse 13 says, boom. He stretched it forth. Immediately. He stretched forth
his hand. When God cried, Lazarus, come
forth. Boom. He that was dead came forth. When God cries, believe, we believe. When God said, David,
seek my face, David cried, thy face, Lord, will I see. Where salvation is purposed,
salvation comes. It comes. And it comes perfectly. And it comes completely. I want to emphasize this word
right here. It is the finished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The end of verse 13 says, His
hand was restored whole just like the other one. It wasn't a work in progress.
It wasn't like, okay, well that's the first surgery and there's
going to be six more surgeries to follow. And if you will go
to rehab and you'll start working on it, you can, you know, you'll
get some, no, no, no. He said, stretch forth your hand.
And it was whole, perfectly, completely finished, done just
like the other one. God the Father said, behold my
servant. Bruised reeds and smoking flax. You know, not everybody's a bruised
reed. You know that? Not everybody's smoking flax.
A man wrote, a sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has to make a
man or a woman realize he or she is a sinner before God. They
don't know that. They don't know that. You ask
them, are you a bruised reed and smoking flax? Oh no, not
me. If God's Holy Spirit comes and
reveals the truth and they cry, oh dear God, and they fall before
him and all the light that they thought was in them becomes darkness. bruised reeds, and if there's
any bruised reeds or smoking flax in here this morning, God
the Father says, behold my servant. Behold what he's gonna do. Just
look at what he's gonna do, because he's gonna do it for you. And he's not gonna fail. He is
gonna lift you up. He is gonna give you light, the
light of Christ. And he's gonna do it justly,
and He's gonna do it rightly, and He's gonna do it perfectly,
and He's gonna do it completely. Behold the Lamb of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Father said, He is my glorious
servant, the successful healer and savior of my people. Just
behold Him, look to Him. If you are a bruised reed or
smoking flat, look to Him. If you need a savior, look to
Him. All right, Brother Eddie, you
come.