Word to Matthew chapter 12. Let's
go to Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank Thee
again for Your manifold mercies and blessings towards Your people.
O Lord, as we look at who thou art and thy magnificence, Lord,
let us be humbled before thee. Let us see thy glory and thy
majesty and get a fresh glimpse of who thou art, O Lord. Who
you are, Lord Jesus, Jehovah's servant. come to this sin-cursed
world to redeem your people, sinners, by birth, nature, and
choice, from their sins. So I pray you'd be glorified,
Lord, that you'd be lifted up high and mighty, and that the
hearts of the hearers of this message would be drawn to Thee,
O Lord, and look to Thee and Thee alone, whether Whether,
Lord, they are saved and know You, that You would just give
them a fresh glimpse of Thee, O Lord, and Lord, Your lost sheep,
we desire that You would draw them in, if it be Your will,
with this message and with the others that go forth in the internet.
Glory to You, Lord, honor and praise in Jesus' name. Amen. The name of the message today
is Jehovah's Servant. Turn, if you would, to Matthew
chapter 12. We'll be looking at verses 15 to 21. Jehovah's
Servant. Now in the verses preceding our
text, our Lord Jesus Christ brings forth that He is Lord of the
Sabbath. He is Lord of the Sabbath. Now
we know that our Savior was God incarnate in the flesh, and we
know that He never violated God's law. regarding the Sabbath or
anything else. He's perfect. He's sinless. He's
spotless. Perfectly holy. Perfectly sinless. Perfectly spotless. And he perfectly
fulfilled the law of God in our place. And our Lord's disciples
here violated Jewish tradition. Not Mosaic law. not Mosaic law,
as people were allowed by law to take ears of corn as they
walked through the fields. And this is at the beginning
of this chapter. The Pharisees got quite upset.
Look in verse 2. But when the Pharisees saw it,
saw them picking corn, plucking corn to eat, when the Pharisees
saw it, behold, they They got mad and they said, Behold thy
disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath
day. So they're trying to hook our
Lord into a place where they can seek to destroy. And we're going to see later
on that that's exactly what they seek. They always are seeking
to catch Him up. All the time. Always. Constantly
trying to catch Him up. And this objection of the Pharisees
to what the Lord's disciples were doing on the Sabbath day,
to them, to their hypercritical minds, to them, plucking and
reaping and rubbing grain from the husk was thrashing. So you see, beloved of God, they
regarded their customs and their traditions more than they did
the law itself. They interpreted what the disciples
were doing as wrong. although the disciples had not
broken the law at all. So to their hypercritical minds,
it was wrong. It was wrong. Again, they regarded
their customs, they regarded their traditions as a code of
law itself. And according to the traditions,
the disciples were doing that which was not lawful to do upon
the Sabbath day. And it's not insufficient to
take notice of the fact that our Lord and his disciples were
poor men, and that the Lord fed multitudes, but yet we see he
used no miraculous powers to feed his own disciples. He used miracles to feed multitudes,
but we see here in the first part of this chapter that he
didn't use miracles to feed his disciples. They were compelled to get a
little food for their stomachs. They were hungry. They were hungry. And just like the way other poor
people would do by walking through fields, belonging to others,
and picking corn, they ate. Beloved of God, the Son of God
bribes none into following Him with the promise of wealth. So right there, that exposes
this prosperity gospel that's proclaimed, a false prosperity
gospel that's proclaimed all through the nation, on TVs and
all around the world. Our Lord doesn't bribe people
into falling in with the promise of wealth. Then look at in verse
14, we see of this chapter, the Pharisees went out and held a
council against him, how they might destroy him. The Pharisees went out and held
counsel against him, how they might destroy him. Now they did
this right after the Lord had performed a miracle. Right after
the Lord had performed a miracle. He had cured the man with a withered
hand, and they were so blind in wrath, and so against Christ, and so against him that the miracle
that he did, They did not rejoice in the things of God. They did
not rejoice in the miracle that had been performed right before
their eyes. So they sought to destroy him.
They were filled with rage at the unanswerableness of his arguments. And because of the violation
of the Sabbath, which they thought had occurred but had not, and
because of the miracle wrought by him, which was so glaringly
proof of his deity, of who he was, that he was Lord of the
Sabbath. And them knowing that this would
create esteem among the people, they held a council against him,
how they might destroy him. So we see in the first part of
this wonderful chapter from verses 1 to 14, the Lord Jesus has demonstrated
his eternal deity. by declaring himself to be Lord
even of the Sabbath. Let's look at verses six to eight
in this chapter. And then he manifests his deity in the miracle of curing the
man with a withered hand. So he declares his deity here.
Look at this in Matthew chapter 12, verses six to eight. But I say unto you that in this
place is one greater than the temple. greater than the temple
but if you had known what this meaneth I will have mercy and
not sacrifice you would have not condemned the guiltless for
the Lord for the Son of Man is what Lord even of the Sabbath
day he's declaring his deity he's declaring that he is Lord
of the Sabbath Lord of the Sabbath And in the passage we will look
at, we will see by the teaching of God, the Holy Spirit, that
our Savior's great humiliation as Jehovah's servant will at
the same time demonstrate himself to be Jehovah God and our great
Savior. Now let's read verses 15 to 21. Well, we will see God's
chosen servant brought forth in the scriptures. And this is
none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Matthew chapter
12 verses 15 to 21. 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,
and whom my soul is well pleased. Look at that. This is speaking
of Christ. 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. I ask you, who are the born-again,
blood-washed people of God, who do you trust? Who is your eternal soul? Who
have you casted the care of your eternal soul upon? The Lord Jesus
Christ, the one spoken of in this text. Jehovah's servant.
Jehovah's servant. God incarnate in the flesh. Now
in this chapter, two things become very evident, and they demand
our notice. They demand our notice to take. We who are the born-again, blood-washed
people of God. The first truth presented before
us is in the Jews' reaction to our Lord's disciples picking
corn and then the reaction to the miracle performed by our
Lord. Oh my. Look at verses 9. And when he departed thence,
he went into the 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 day? He had just told them that
he is Lord of the Sabbath, that they might accuse him. See, they
were looking for things to catch him, any little thing they wanted
to catch him up. 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. Then saith he to the man, Stretch
forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth, and
it was restored whole like the other. So he just performed this
wondrous miracle. A man with a withered hand, his
hand is restored. He didn't need physical therapy.
See, that's one thing with the Lord's healings. He didn't need
physical therapy. It's whole. Remember the leper
who was full of leprosy? The Lord said, be thou clean. It was a whole cleaning, wasn't
it? He was wholly cleaned. Oh, my. When the Lord heals,
it's a whole healing. And that's what he's done for
his people. Oh, my. By his stripes were healed. By his stripes were healed. My oh my. And then look at verse
14. Then the Pharisees went out and held a council against him,
how they might destroy him. How they might destroy him. My oh my. The second truth which
we will see is the encouraging description of our Lord Jesus
Christ's character. we will see his beauty and his
grace and mercy to weak believers and praise God that certainly
does include me and all of God's born-again blood-bought people.
Truly his grace has been shown to his people and his mercy as well in and
through our great Savior the Lord Jesus Christ. I look at
verse 14 here again the first point the truth and the Jews
reaction to the Lord's disciples their hatred for him We see in verse 14 the desperate
wickedness of the human heart. I don't think we know. I was
talking to a dear brother in Colorado this week. And he brought out, I don't think
we know how desperately sinful we are. I don't think we know
how wicked we are, even after we're saved. And I said, no,
I think you're right, brother. I think you're right. We don't
have any idea. We don't have any idea at all.
We get little glimpses of it, and when we do, we fall on our
faces, don't we? And look at the wickedness of
the human heart brought forth in here. And the Pharisees were
continuously defeated by the Lord's argument, and that closed
their mouths. He always brought scripture to
them, and that closed their mouths. And now they plunge deeper and
deeper into sin. the scriptures bring forth in
verse 14 then the Pharisees went out and held a council against
him how they might destroy him it's bad enough that they're
calling our Lord who's the sinless spotless Lamb of God a sinner
and now they go even deeper into their sin the word for destroy here means
to be destroyed to perish in the Greek I ask you, this beloved
of God, what evil had our Lord done that he should be so treated? What evil had he done that he
should be so treated? Well, he did none at all, did
he? None. He's perfect. He's not deserving
of this. And no charge could be brought
against his life, as the scriptures declare about Christ in Hebrews
7.26, for such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens,
Hebrews 7.26. See, we can be accused of sin
because we're sinners, even after we're saved. But our Lord Jesus
Christ, he's the sinless, spotless lamb of God. He spent his days
in doing good. No charge could be bought against
him. No charge. No charge could be bought against
his teaching, for he proved it was scriptural, and they could
not reply against anything he taught. But to the natural man,
to the natural man who is the enemy of Christ, it mattered
little how he lived. They didn't care. They didn't
care. They didn't care about what he
taught. Therefore, our Lord was hated
without a cause. He was hated without a cause.
And these religious Pharisees pretended to have great reverence
for the law, didn't they? Oh, they pretended that. We have
great reverence for the law of God. Great reverence for it. Particularly
for the Sabbath day. And yet we see how quickly they
have in gathering a religious council. And that's what they
did. Got a bunch of them together. A religious council for the purpose
of finding a way to murder the one. To murder the one who lived
among them in perfect righteousness. They had no problems with plotting
against our Lord, who is the Lord of glory. And these Pharisees are always
the same, whether it be in the time of Christ or whether it
be in the time that we live in now. They're always the same.
They want everyone to admire their righteousness. They want
everyone to admire their piety. They want everyone to admire
their devotion. They want everyone to admire
their spirituality. but they are always unmasked
by Christ. They are always unmasked by him
who reads their very hearts. And the scripture says they shall
receive the greater damnation due to the fact that they are
going about to try to establish their own righteousness. And
that's what the Pharisees were doing. We know that from scripture.
The Pharisees were going about trying to establish their own
righteousness. Matthew 23 verses 14 and 15,
the scriptures declare this. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you devour widows' houses and for a pretense make
long prayer. Therefore, you shall receive
the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees
and hypocrites, for you can pass sea and land to make one prostrate,
to make one person fall their way of thinking. And when he is made, you make
him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. That's
our Lord's words. And these Pharisees, they refuse
to submit to the righteousness of God. That being the Lord Jesus Christ.
We know he is the righteousness of God. And they refuse to submit
to him. And they pretend that they are
righteous. But all along, they're hypocrites. Therefore, our Savior
warns us, warns his people, beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees.
Beware ye of adding anything to the finished work of Christ.
Anything. Anything. Beware ye. 11 of the Pharisees,
which is hypocrisy. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made you free, Paul wrote to the Galatians. Stand
fast in the freedom that you have in Christ. And don't be
again yoked and entangled with the yoke of bondage. Don't be that. The believer in
Christ has such freedom in Christ. And again, like I mentioned a
few weeks ago, the Lord's preachers are free men in Christ. We're servants of the great high
king, but we're free men. And these Pharisees, they met,
and each brought out a plan to destroy Christ. Can you imagine the depths of
this wickedness? They sought out to destroy the holy one, the righteous one, who had done
no wrong. We see the depths of wickedness
here, right before us. And we say, when I ask that question,
can you imagine the depths of this weakness? The believer in
Christ says, yes, we can. Yeah, we can. Yes, we can. For you and I, who are the people
of God, would have done the very same thing before our conversion. The only one who's made us to
differ from these Pharisees The only one who's made the people
of God to differ from these Pharisees is God himself. God himself. He's the only one who's made
us to differ. Now, beloved of God, self-righteousness comes
in a thousand different faces. But all in all, it's just men
attempting to hide their hatred of God. For the scriptures declare
that the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject
unto the law of God, neither indeed can be. So we clearly
see, and that's in Romans 8, we clearly see in those words
that the carnal mind, the unconverted mind, is enmity against God. And that's bought forth, isn't
it, with what we see with these Pharisees? That's clearly bought
forth. The enmity is clearly bought forth in this portion
of Scripture. The enmity of the carnal mind,
the enmity of the natural mind. And there's no neutral ground
in this. There's no neutral ground in this enmity. No indifference. No neutral unregenerate people. No neutral unregenerate people.
Because all people in our natural state, because of our fallen
atom at the core of our being, in the hearts of our being in
our natural state, is enmity towards God. That's in us. And we cannot change
that situation at all by ourselves. But praise God, that which is
impossible with men possible with God we see this clearly
bought forth after the wondrous miracle that our Lord Jesus Christ
had performed healing the man with a withered hand a great
miracle restoring the man's withered hand to the to just like like
his other hand great miracle done right before them and and
after he claimed to be the Lord of the Sabbath They became so
enraged about the Lord Jesus Christ that they sought to destroy
him. You see, beloved, no charge could
be brought against our Lord. No charge could be brought against
his character. He was holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners. And also, no charge could be
leveled against his doctrine, because he proved his teachings
by scripture. Irrefutably, they could not argue
against it. He said, thus saith the Lord. But it did not matter to those
Pharisees. It did not matter to those Pharisees. It mattered
not to them how perfectly he lived or how perfectly he taught.
No. And we'd be the same in our natural
state, too. And think upon this, our Lord
Jesus Christ, God incarnate in the flesh, was hated by those
people who claimed most loudly that they loved God. Didn't the
Jews claim that? Most loudly. They looked at the
Gentiles as skim. Well, where are the people of
God? And they looked at those Gentiles
like they were nothing. And they said, we have the law,
and we have the commandments, and we have the ordinances. We
have all these things. But they had no love for God. They had no love for God. Some of them did. There was a
remnant scattered throughout them. Oh, my. Our Lord was hated by those people
who claimed most loudly that they loved God. So we see then that the Pharisees'
reaction was human nature, sinful human nature appearing in its
true colors. The veneer had been stripped
away, beloved. The shiny coat of colors and
all their fancy garments, showing people how religious they were,
had been stripped away, stripped away. And their true human nature
was appearing in the colors that they had stripped off, that had
been stripped off. And we see clearly in these Pharisees,
in their reaction to Christ's teaching, and then their reaction
to the miracle he had performed, We see very, very clearly that
the unconverted heart hates God, whether people admit it or not. And that is the state of every
sinner born into this world, every son and daughter of Adam.
That's the state. And it's a desperate state to
be in. And we know to the heart of natural
man, all God's teaching is foolishness. The scriptures declare this.
It says, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned. They must be revealed
to us by the Holy Spirit of God. They're spiritually discerned. So this is natural man's heart.
And it will show its hatred wherever it dares. whenever it has an
opportunity. You know why? Because it cannot
get at God. It cannot get at God, so it persecutes
God's witnesses. And we've all, who are the people
of God, we've all experienced that, haven't we? Persecution
for what we believe. The names of the apostles were
spoken of evilly by the Jews. And many thousands of early martyrs
were slain. Here's an example. John Hus was
a martyr for Christ when he was burned at the stake. When he
came to the stake, the executioner said, now we commit thy soul
to the devil. But I, said John Hus, lifting
up his eyes toward heaven, do commit unto thy hands, O Lord
Jesus, my spirit, which thou hast redeemed. When the chains
were put upon him at the stake, he said with a smiling countenance,
my Lord Jesus Christ was bound with a harder chain than this
for my sake. And why should I be ashamed of
this rusty one? He then said, I have never preached
any doctrine of evil tendency. In what I taught with my lips,
I now seal with my blood. And as he burned, he sang a hymn
with so loud and cheerful a voice that he was heard above the noise
of the multitude of people that were there. Then the flames put out his voice
and his life. Then they took his ashes and
cast them into the river. They so despised this man. They
cast his ashes into the river that the last remnants of that
man should not be left upon the earth. It was not from any sins
he had committed, but because he was a disciple of Christ and
he was a godly man. And he refused to bow down and
renounce our great king. So even there, we see the depth
of the depravity of man, of human nature as unconverted,
ungodly men and women hate godly men and godly women because it
hates God. Can't get at God, so they'll
go after his people. They'll go after his people.
Does the world hate you? Does the world hate you? Don't
be surprised. Don't be surprised if you meet with the same treatment
that the Lord Jesus has met with. Don't be surprised. There's only
been one perfect man in this earth. All of us are flawed.
Every one of us. You can find flaws in me, and
I can find flaws in you, because we're all a bunch of sinners.
We're all a bunch of sinners. There's only one perfect man
who lived on this earth. And he was hated, as no man was ever
hated. And he was hated without a cause. Therefore, the unconverted person
will hate God's people without a cause. But one day, when we
leave this earth, one day when we leave this earth, we who are
the born-again, blood-washed people of God will be with a
multitude of people. Oh, we'll be with a multitude of people,
people that no man can number. Multitude of people, redeemed
by the precious blood of the Lamb, washed in his precious
blood, And we'll be with them forever. And we'll praise God for his
amazing grace. And there be no sin. Now let's look at verses 15 to
21 of this chapter, Matthew chapter 12. And we'll see Jehovah's servant
brought forth. Matthew 12, 15. But when Jesus
knew it, he withdraw himself from thence. And great multitudes
followed him, and he healed them all. Now, notice here even we
see a glimpse of our Lord's divinity when the scriptures declare here,
when Jesus knew it. He knows the hearts of men and
women in this world. He knows everything we're thinking.
He knows the depths of our hearts. He knows if we're sincere, or
he knows if we're hypocrites. He knows. Now, men can't tell
that. But he knows, never escapes God's
eyes. So we get a glimpse of the Lord's
divinity here when he says, when Jesus knew it. So clearly brought forth here
is that Jesus knows the hearts of men and women. And Matthew, who's writing this,
knows this truth by divine revelation. The Holy Spirit's having him
pen these words. He's having him pen these words.
He knew who Christ was. Matthew knew who Christ was.
He's a born-again, blood-washed believer. He knows who Christ
is. He knows that Christ redeemed his people from their sins. And
he knows that he is God over all. He knows this. He's been
taught by God. It's been revealed to him. And
our Lord knew what these Pharisees were up to. He knew what they
were up to. And the scriptures here declare
that he withdrew himself from things. Then look at verse 16. And he
charged his, he's speaking to his disciples here, and he charged
them that they should not make him known. Our Lord didn't want
to follow him. He wasn't looking for the praise
as a man. No, he came here to save his
people from their sins. That was his mission. And then
he told his disciples before he rose up, he said, you go and
preach the gospel. Go into this world and preach
the gospel. That's what I want you to do. And who is the gospel
about? Well, it's all about Christ.
It's all about Christ. He charged them that they should
not make him known. He doesn't desire the praises of man. And
this is brought forth in those words, and charged them that
they should not make him known. in verses 17 here, that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah, the prophet, saying,
now, now he's going to go to the scriptures. Now he's going
to go to the scriptures. He's going to proclaim from the
scriptures who he is. And marvel at this before us.
Marvel at these words. Look at verses 18 to 21. Behold my servant. That's Jehovah
speaking. We're going to see that in the
Old Testament. That'll be Jehovah in speaking this. Behold my servant,
whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased. Who's the only one that Jehovah
is well pleased with? Christ. And the only reason he's
well pleased with you and I, who are believers, is because
we're in Christ. The Father said, this is my beloved
son, in whom I'm well pleased. My, oh, my. 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. Look at that. And smoke and flax shall he not
quench, till he set forth judgment unto victory. And in his name
shall the Gentiles trust. Who do God's people trust in?
The Lord Jesus Christ. Now we see the second truth presented
here before us in this chapter. And it's a very encouraging description
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah
chapter 42. It's a very encouraging description of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And this portion that he's quoting here is found in
Isaiah chapter 42. And we see this wonderful description
of our blessed Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ being used,
in figurative language. Isaiah 42, Jehovah says, behold
my servant. Look to him, behold him. 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. bruised reed shall
he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He
shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor
be discouraged." Look at that, you're not fail, he won't be
discouraged. Now we fail all the time as sinners
and we get discouraged all the time. But he'll not fail, and
he'll never be discouraged, till he has set judgment in the earth,
and the isle shall wait for his law. Thus saith God the Lord,
that's Jehovah there, Elohim, Jehovah, he that created the
heavens and stretched them out, he that spread forth the earth,
and that which cometh out of it, he that giveth breath unto
the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein, I,
Jehovah, have called thee in righteousness, that's in Christ,
and will hold thine hand, and I will keep thee, and give thee
for a covenant of the people. See, remember the righteousness
of God is revealed through the preaching of the gospel, and
that's the Lord Jesus Christ. For a light of the Gentiles,
to open the blind eyes, that's where we were, we were blind,
dead in trespasses and sins, in the prison house of sins,
we who are God's people. To bring out the prisoners from
the prison, oh praise God, he set us free. and them that sit
in darkness out of the prison house. I, Jehovah, that is my
name and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praises
to graven images. Behold, the former things are
come to pass, and new things do I declare before they spring
forth. I tell you of them." Now, you
see here, that in our text there in Matthew
chapter 12 verse 20 says, a bruised reed shall he not break and smoking
flax shall he not quench. What are we to understand by
the bruised reed and the smoking flax? Well, we know that this
is figurative language. But what do these expressions
mean? And it seems that the Holy Spirit
is describing those whose grace is weak. Those whose repentance is feeble.
Those whose faith is small. Can you see yourself in any of
those? And towards such persons the
Lord Jesus Christ will be very tender and compassionate. Weak as the bruised reed is,
a reed standing in water and one is bent over but not broken.
Reeds standing in the water will be bent over, but they're not
broken. Well, that pictures us, beloved, going through trials
and tribulations in this world. We are bruised reeds, but the
Lord upholds us, and we are not broken by the trials and tribulations
which come our way. And towards, again, such people. The Lord is very tender and compassionate. And then it says, a smoking flax
shall he not quench. Now small as a spark of fire
may be within the flax, which is a slender erect plant with
blue flowers, the seeds are used for making linseed oil. And the
fibers are spun into linen. In manufacturing, sometimes they
smoke from a spark. They smoke from a spark. So here's
the teaching. Weak grace, weak faith, and weak
repentance are all precious in our Lord's sight. All precious
in our Lord's sight. He seems to love those weak ones
with a special love. And all of we who are God's people
say, that's me. Now there are people of God in
every church to whom this ought to speak peace and hope. There are some in every congregation
who hear the gospel and are ready to despair of their own salvation. They're full of fears. They're
full of hopelessness because their knowledge, their faith,
their hope, and their love appear so small, so small. Listen to these wondrous words
and let them sink deep into your soul. Let them sink deep into
your soul, beloved. A bruised reed shall he not break,
and smoke and flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment
unto victory. All these wondrous words, these
wondrous words, Weak faith gives a man and woman
his real and true interest in Christ as strong faith. It may not give them the same
joy, but trusting and resting in Christ
alone is what we are to do, casting our eternal souls upon him. There
is life in an infant as truly as there is in a growing person,
isn't there? It's true. An infant's as alive
as a grown person. So we, when we're babes in Christ,
are just as alive in Christ as a mature Christian. There's a fire and a spark as
truly as there is in a burning fire. The least degree of grace is
in everlasting possession. It comes down from heaven, and
it's precious in our Lord's eyes. And it shall never be overthrown. Now we see in Matthew 18, or
Matthew chapter 12, verse 18, it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ
being the servant of God. And this is where I got the title
for the message, Jehovah's Servant. 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. Turn, if you would, to Exodus
chapter 21. Now, we are taught in the bond slave brought forth
in the Old Testament We know that those all pictured Christ. There's all kinds of pictures
in the Old Testament. And the bond slave pictures our
Lord Jesus Christ. Exodus chapter 21, verse 1. Now these are the judgments
which thou shalt set before them. If thou by an Hebrew servant
six years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out
free for nothing. And if he come in by himself,
he shall go out by himself. If he were married, then his
wife shall go out with him. If his master have given him
a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters, the wife and
her children shall be her masters, and he shall go out by himself. And if the servant plainly say,
I love my master, I love my master, my wife and my children, I will
not go out free. Then his master shall bring him
unto the judges. He also shall bring him to the
door or unto the doorpost. And his master shall bore his
ear through with an all. And he shall serve him forever. Always remember. The law of God,
the civil statutes, the ceremonial rights, and all the commandments
were messianic. They were given to Israel alone
and applied to Israel alone. The law of the Old Testament
has absolutely nothing to do with the Gentiles. It was never given to the Gentiles.
The law was messianic because it pointed to Christ. It pointed
to Christ. who is the fulfillment and the
end of the law. Now the servant spoken of here
in our text is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's Jehovah's servant. The same one who was spoken of
in the passage we looked at in Isaiah chapter 42. He was pictured
in type and picture also all through the Old Testament. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior
of God's people, became a man, fully God and fully man. He became
the servant of God. The Word became flesh and dwelt
among us. Why? Well, that he might redeem his
people from their sins. that he might save a chosen people,
people chosen by the Father in eternity and given to Christ
in eternity. And he, being the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world, has come to redeem those people
from their sins. And he will send the Holy Spirit
to them, to these blood-washed saints, and they shall be born
again and they shall be granted faith and repentance before God. So the text here, behold the
servant, the text here is not talking
about a man who became the servants of man among the ancient Israelites.
No, they were but pictures of another man. They were pictures
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the servant sent by God. Why? To save his people from their
sins. And behold, you who are the beloved
of God, look with the eye of God-given faith. Look to the
Lord Jesus Christ, the man Jesus Christ, and rejoice in his complete
finished work for you at Calvary's Cross. and rejoice in the Lord
Jesus Christ and Him alone. And sinner friend, Christ is
the only hope for sinners. If you die in your sins, you
will perish in your sins and go to a Christless eternity. But our prayer as believers is that the Lord would grant
you faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that he would turn
you from your sins, in which we saw clearly the wickedness
of man's depravity earlier in the study. So marvel here, too, at the humility
of our great Savior. Though he was God incarnate in
the flesh, the word of God incarnate One with the Father and one with
the Holy Spirit of God, yet he voluntarily became the servant
of God. He voluntarily did that. Became
the servant of God. And we know from the scriptures
that he was obedient even unto death. The death of the cross. Why? To do the will of God. Matthew 1.21 so clearly brings
forth, And thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall Save
his people from their sins. And he's accomplished that work,
beloved. He's accomplished that work. And we who are the people
of God, we rejoice in that, don't we? We rejoice that there's nothing
for us to do when it comes to our salvation. We rejoice in
that. It's wondrous. So truly in this passage before
us, we see the, meditatorial work of our great Savior, just
as he's described as Jehovah's Servant, which what we looked
at in Isaiah 42 verses 1 to 4. He's Jehovah's Servant, beloved.
He's the one sent by God. And so rejoice, ye of little
faith. Rejoice, struggling believer
in Christ. Rejoice, my cast down brother
or sister in Christ. Rejoice in the finished complete
work of Jehovah's Servant in your place. delight in our glorious
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the one mediator between
God and man and has entered into his rest. You who are the redeemed of the
Lord, look with the eye of faith and behold our exalted, risen
Savior. Look with the eye of God-given
faith and see Him, see Him seated upon the throne of glory in undisturbed and in undisturbable sovereignty.
You think he's disturbed about the events in the world? No,
he sits in undisturbed sovereignty upon the throne. Slowly his plan is being worked
out for the good of his people and for his glory. And he sits
upon that throne in undisturbed sovereignty. in undisturbable
sovereignty right now. Right now. Absolute sovereign
peacefulness. That's my God. Is it yours? Is
he yours? That's my God. Oh, I pray that
God would make it so for you. We don't have a God of our imagination,
we who are the people of God. We have a real, true, living
God who rules and reigns in undisturbed sovereignty. And Jehovah sent
servant, the exalted man, the mediator of his people has fulfilled
all that the law of God demanded for his people to be in his presence. God sent Christ. God sent the
Word of God. And now the people of God, everything
has been accomplished for us to be able to be in the presence
of our great God. And the law and justice against
us is fully satisfied. And the salvation of his people
is as certain as the sun rising tomorrow, if the Lord wills. Because it's kept by him. We're
kept by him. And he alone has obtained eternal
redemption for his people. He alone. And one day all his
enemies shall be made his footstool. So rejoice, beloved of God, in
Jehovah's servant. There's no more work for salvation
to be done. Christ did it all. And rejoice, you who are the
people of God. All the work has been done for
us. And our blessed Savior has entered into his rest. And now,
we who are the people of God, we rejoice in Christ, who is
what? Our Sabbath. Our rest. And we delight in him, all according
to the mercy and the grace of God, which has been bestowed
upon his people in and through Christ alone. God's people say
amen and amen. Heavenly Father, thank you for
allowing us to be able to live stream, allowing us to be able
to have your word go forth, oh Lord. And we pray that as this
message goes forth on the internet, that you would use it for your
glory and honor and praise. And oh, Lord, we who are your
people are weak. We're weak people, Lord. We see
ourselves in that burst reed and that smoke and flax. Oh,
Lord. But we ever trust in thee and
we know that you will not break us, that you keep us. You will not let the fire of
trials and tribulations consume us. but you are always there. Just as a refiner, when they're
refining gold and when they see their face, Lord, they know that
the trial's complete, or they know that gold is complete, Lord.
It's the same with us in trials. You ever watch over us. You ever
got your eyes upon us. Glory to your name, Lord, for
your mercy and grace. Glory that you didn't leave us.
Glory to your name that you didn't leave us in the place we were. that You saved us by Your grace. And we who are the people of
God will sing praises to Thee for eternity, all because of
Your mercy, and all because of Your grace. In Jesus' name, Amen.