Matthew chapter 12. Behold my servant. Give much attention to my servant. Now it says here that the Pharisees
went out and they held a council. They got together and they held a council against
him. They charged him with breaking
the Sabbath. Well, he's the Lord of the Sabbath.
It's his Sabbath. He can do with it as he will.
If the priest can profane the Sabbath, how much more of the
Lord of the Sabbath? How much more can he do on that
day? But they were upset, angry. They wanted to destroy him. Not just chastise him or beat
him, they wanted to destroy, annihilate, absolutely annihilate
this man, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. They were of that same spirit
of their father, the devil. These religious people, these moral people, these outstanding
people in the community were of their father, the devil. Same
spirit, same attitude. They wanted to destroy him. And
this shows the natural enmity of man against God. Every man,
every woman has this natural enmity. Being religious does
not mean that a man does not hate God. To hate Jesus Christ,
to think nothing of him, is to hate God and think nothing of
God. Man does not even know how much
he hates God until he is confronted with the truth of God. He doesn't
even know how much he hates God until he's confronted with the
truth. The truth of God, that God is holy. He will by no means
clear the guilty. He's sovereign. He saves whom
He will. He hardens whom He will. Scripture
teaches that. He kills whom He will. He makes
alive whom He will. He said, I kill and I make alive.
I wound and I heal. I, the Lord, do all these things. Man doesn't know how much he
hates God until he hears that. And he says, that's not the kind
of God I believe. That's the God of the Bible. That's the
only God there is. There's not another one besides
that. That's God. But as much as they hated him,
as much as they wanted to destroy this man, we see the providence
of God. We see the power of God. They
couldn't touch him. But when Jesus knew it, there's
his omniscience. He knew it. See, they held a
council. They held a secret council. They
went off to their own. They said, look, meet over here
at such and such a time and such and such a place. And they got
together and they wanted to kill it. He knew it. Did somebody
tell him? No, he's God. He's not only a
man, he's God. He knew what went on in that
council. He heard every word. He saw every motive in the heart
of every one of those men. He's omniscient. He knew it, and they couldn't
touch him. There was a hedge about him.
They couldn't touch him. His hour had not yet come. How
many times do we read in the scriptures, His hour has not
yet come? His hour had not yet come. His hour to be glorified,
His hour to glorify His Father, His hour to die had not yet come. And they couldn't touch him.
Let them take their counsel. Let them get together and do
all their finagling. Let them do it. They can't touch
him. Not yet. They can't do it yet. He still
had work to do. He still had work to do. It says
the multitude followed him and he healed them all. He still
had work to do. And our Lord did not go into
hiding. And he knew their thoughts, and he knew their motives. He
didn't hide. He didn't hide. He publicly healed
them all. He did not leave out of fear.
He simply moved on to the next order of business, which was
to fulfill the scriptures concerning him. Because in verses 17 through
21, the scriptures, it says, is fulfilled. that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet. Now I'm going
to turn over to Isaiah 42. Let me read it to you. This is
the Old Testament. This is the prophecy of the Lord
Jesus Christ years and years before he came. He says, Behold
my servant, whom I uphold. I uphold him. That's why they
couldn't touch him. They couldn't touch him. Mighty
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 cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised
reed shall he not break, and a smoking flask shall he not
quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged. He won't quit. He won't be discouraged. He will not be broken, that's
what it says over in the margin, he will not be broken until he
has set judgment or truth, law, his law, the law of the gospel,
the law of the spirit, of life. He has set judgment in the earth.
And the Isles, the Gentiles, me and you, me and you shall
wait for his law. That's what we're doing this
morning. We're sitting here, you're sitting here, I'm standing here.
waiting for his law, waiting for his word, waiting for his
gospel to be preached. Gentiles, who were once not a
people, but are now the people of God. He says here, he says, Behold,
it is given your utmost attention to this. Don't miss this. Don't miss my servant. He didn't
say behold what, he said behold who. Don't miss My servant, or
you'll miss salvation. He came unto His own, and His
own received Him not. They missed Him. Therefore, they
missed salvation. They perished. They're in hell
right now under the wrath of God. So don't miss this. Behold My servant. Give great
attention to My servant. Don't let this pass you by. Jesus
Christ is not only God's Son, but He's God's servant. He came
in the form of a servant. This is God's Son. This is the
Messiah. This is the seed of the woman that we heard of in
Genesis. This is Him. This is Him. And He came into this world and
He came to serve His Father. He came to serve Him, to do His
will. My need is to do the will of Him, He said, that sent me.
He came to serve. That's what He came to do. I
cannot be ministered unto but to minister and to give my life
a ransom for many. That's what He came for. He came
to serve. Everything He did, He did in
service, in perfect service to His Father, fulfilling that covenant. That covenant that was made in
eternity past, He came and fulfilled it by His service. And he served
his father willingly. He didn't do this grudgingly. He didn't do this. Everything he did, he did willingly.
I did not always serve my father willingly. I had to mow the grass.
I didn't like it. But everything he did, which was a lot harder
than anything I ever had to do, he did it willingly. Gladly.
Gladly. Lovingly. Lovingly. Loving you. Apple of His eye. He did it with
an eye to you and to His Father's glory. He did it eagerly. Did you get up this morning? Don't raise your hand. Did you
get up this morning eagerly? I mean eagerly to get here. I thought about that this morning
as I go over my notes. I thought about my own self.
I felt like as dead as a hammer when I read that. I thought eagerly. Eagerly to get him. Eagerly to
worship. Eagerly to sing his praise. Eagerly.
He did. He got up every morning eagerly
to go about his father's business. Eagerly. And he did it faithfully. Faithfully. Never missed a thing.
Never missed a jot or a tune. He did it faithfully. And he
did it sacrificially. In serving His Father, in redeeming
us, He had no place to lay His head. We have comfortable places
to lay our heads because of Him, who had no place to lay His head.
And listen, He did it perfectly. Our service this morning, this
service, my preaching, our singing, none of it was done perfectly. He loved God perfectly. He served
God perfectly. He thought of Him perfectly.
Everything He did, He did perfectly. This is His service. And He is
the pattern of service. He's our pattern of service. Now listen. Behold My servant
whom I have chosen. This is God's servant. This is
God's land. Behold the Lamb of God. This
is God's land. This is the Lamb of God's choosing.
This is the Lamb of God's appointing. This is God's servant. He appointed Him. He's the elect
and we were chosen in Him. He's the elect. It says in Isaiah
42, mine elect, this is my elect. The man Christ Jesus was chosen
of God to be the Savior. There is no other. He's the Redeemer. There is no other. He's the only
one. There is no other besides Him.
God chose His Son to come into this world. His Son, equal with
Him. The Son of God is equal with
the Father. He chose Him to come into this world. take upon Himself
flesh and bone, and to go through this life, and to suffer, to
become a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, to be
despised and rejected of men. God chose His Son to do that.
That's who He chose. He chose His Son to suffer and
die, to suffer the wrath of God. We can't comprehend that. In the place of his people, sinners,
chosen of him, who can comprehend such love? This is love beyond
understanding. You can't understand that. This
is my servant whom I have chosen and whom my soul, he says my
soul, my very, God is saying my very being, is well pleased
with this man. Everything that I am, my very
being, I'm well pleased with him. In one place he said, this is
my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Hear him. Hear ye him. Men and women try to please God,
but only one did. Only one. Truly pleased God. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He pleased God the Father in His thoughts, in His deeds, and
in His death. He's a sweet-smelling Savior
unto God. Anything and everything outside
of Him stinks. A smoke may in my nose, he says
over Isaiah. He truly pleased God. Now listen. That's how Enoch pleased God,
is through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he says, I will put my spirit
upon him, and he shall show judgment to the judge. I'll put my spirit
upon this man. As the Son of God, he's equal
with the Father. But now, as a man, he was given
the Spirit without measure. He was given the Spirit of God
Without measure. As a man, as our mediator, as
our surety, he had the Spirit of God without measure. We have
it in measure. He had it without measure because
he was perfect. He was perfect. He could handle
it. We can't. We can't. Now he said,
I'll put my spirit upon him and he's going to show judgment. In Hebrew, that means law. And
He's going to show my law, my word. He's going to preach the
gospel. My servant, whom I have chosen,
which is my Son, my elect, is going to come into this world,
and He's going to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, as well
as the Jews. But He's going to show my judgment,
He says. He's going to show the whole,
He's going to reveal the whole system of truth. We have greater
life, don't we, since He's come. We have much greater life since
He's come. We have the complete Word of God since He's come.
We have it. He's going to reveal the true
way of salvation. He's going to reveal it. And
He's going to reveal it not to the Jews only, but He's going
to reveal it to us Gentiles also. You understand how God can be
a just God and a Savior. How did you come to understand
that? Well, the Scripture says the Son of God has come. Over
in 1 John chapter 5, the Son of God has come and given us
an understanding. That's how we understand the
gospel. He's come and revealed it to
us. He's revealed the gospel to us. He's revealed God to us.
He's revealed how God saves sinners to us. God has done that in His
Son. And then He gives here the character,
the character of His servant. This is God's servant. He says here in verse 19, He
shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice
in the streets. He's not going to go running through the streets.
He's not going to be a contentious person. A person who likes and
loves contention is not a God. He said, My servant, he's not
going to strive, he's not going to be contentious, he's not going
to go out and fight with these Pharisees. How many times did
he just leave them alone? He said to his disciples one time,