Would you turn back to Matthew
chapter 12? What initially drew me to this
passage was verse 20. Let's read it together. A bruised reed shall he not break. and smoking flax shall he not quench. I've entitled this message, A
Bruised Reed and Smoking Flax. The reed was something that grew
in or near water. It was hollow, not strong in
the first place, bruised, bent over and good for nothing. That's what a bruised reed is. It cannot be leaned upon. It
cannot be used for support. And the Lord says, I will not
break it. A smoking flax. The candle wick
that has just gone out. Nothing but a flicker. It cannot produce light. It cannot
produce heat. Just a little smoke that quite
frankly smells bad. And he says, the Lord Jesus says,
I will not quench it. Do you know what it is to be
a bruised reed, utter weakness and useless by
reason of sin, a smoking flax? At one time, maybe you felt like
you were burning, but you don't feel like you are anymore. No
heat, no light. And if it's a smell just about
to be extinguished, how tender the Lord Jesus Christ is to that
person. I won't crush and throw away
that bruised wreath. I won't put out that smoking
flax. Now let's begin in verse one. of chapter 12. At that time,
Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn and his disciples
were unhungered and began to eat or began to pluck the ears
of corn and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it,
they said unto him, behold, thy disciples do that which is not
lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. Now here we have our old
buddies, the Pharisees. You and I ought to know a whole
lot about Pharisees because that's our natural religion. Everybody
in this room is by nature a Pharisee. Pharisee means separated one. And these men thought that there's
something they could do that would separate them from other
men. Now don't think that these Pharisees are just characters
of the New Testament. They're very alive today. It's
the religion of the natural man. Every one of us are by nature
Pharisees. And they demonstrate their stupidity
by accusing Christ and his disciples of breaking the law and having
no regard for the Sabbath. They didn't understand what the
Sabbath was, but here they are accusing Christ and his disciples
of breaking the Sabbath. Verse three, but he said unto
them, have you not read? I love that. Now these fellows,
thought that they were experts in the scriptures. And what does
the Lord say to them? Have you not read? Well, of course
they read, but what he's saying is obviously you never understood
what you've read. Have you not read what David
did when he was in hunger and they that were with him, how
he entered into the house of God and did eat the show bread,
which was not lawful for him to eat it, neither nor them which
were with him, but only through the priests Or have you not read
in the law? There he goes again. Have you
not read in the law how that on the Sabbath day the priests
in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless? But I say
unto you, there is in this place one greater than the temple.
That temple you revere but have no understanding of. Right standing
before you is one who is greater than the temple. And he's speaking
of himself. But if you'd known what this meaneth, I'll have
mercy and not sacrifice, you would have not have condemned
the guiltless. Turn back on Matthew chapter nine. Matthew chapter
nine. Verse 10, and it came to pass
as Jesus said it made in the house, behold, many publicans
and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And
when the Pharisees saw, they said unto his disciples, why
eateth your master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard,
he said unto them, they that be whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that
meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. You know, men think that they
need to bring a sacrifice of some kind, something they've
sacrificed in order to gain God's favor. He says, you go and learn
what this means. I'll have mercy. I don't need
your sacrifices. I don't need anything that you
couldn't bring. I give mercy. For I came not
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now, they never
learned this lesson. He gave them. Back to our text
in chapter 12. For the son of man, verse eight,
is Lord, even of the Sabbath. And you can be sure that that
drove them crazy when he said that. And when he was departed, thence
he went into their synagogue, and behold, there was a man which
had his hand withered. And they, these Pharisees, asked
him, saying, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days that
they might accuse him? Why, if you heal this man, you're breaking
the Sabbath. Now, I want you to think about
how incredibly stupid that is. Incredibly stupid. They think
that you ought not heal somebody because it's the Sabbath day.
That was just wrong. Anyone could see that, but them,
they were so blind in their religion. Verse 11, and he said unto them,
what man shall there be among you that you shall have one sheep? And if it fall into a pit on
the Sabbath day, he'll not lay hold 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. And he said to the man, stretch
forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth. Now
he couldn't do it. It was withered. But when Christ
commanded it, he could do it. What a blessed thought to think
that the Lord is going to command somebody, believe on me, and
you're going to do it. You see, with the command of
Christ comes the ability to do. And that man did exactly what
Christ told him to do. You see, Christ is not going
to be disobeyed. If He says to you, stretch forth your hand,
you know what? You're going to stretch forth your hand every
time. Let's go on reading. 13, and he stretched it forth and
it was restored whole like the other. Then the Pharisees went
out and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. Now that's what human religion
thinks of Jesus Christ. He's messing our life up. We want him destroyed. But verse 15, when Jesus knew
it, He withdrew Himself from this and great multitudes followed
Him and He healed them all. Now, I love the description of
the Lord's healing. He heals them all. He doesn't wait to see if they
have faith to be healed. He heals. Now, I almost hate
bringing this up, but the next time you hear of a faith healer,
he's a phony. That's all he is. If he was a
real faith healer, he'd go into the hospitals and start healing
people. And he wouldn't wait to see if they had faith to do
it. He'd just do it. That's the way the Lord healed.
And he healed everybody, 100% success rate. He healed them
all. And verse 16, and he charged
them that they should not make him known. Now, how many times
do you find that in the scripture? Where he heals somebody and then
he says, don't tell anybody about it. That's in the New Testament
a lot. He'd heal somebody and say, don't
tell anybody about it. Why did the Lord do that? It's
repeated over and over. Don't tell anybody about this.
Why? You know, initially we think
it seems like he'd want people to know about it. I mean, that's
why he came. Why did he tell people not to
tell anybody about his healing ability? Because Christ was not
trying to gain a hearing. Christ was not trying to gain
a following. He was not trying to get influence
with people by them seeing the things which they saw when he
committed these miracles. And I just love this. Christ
is not trying to gain a following. He wasn't trying to affect the
culture. I read in religion where people, we want to affect the
culture and give people a Christian worldview and so on. The Lord
wasn't trying to do anything like that. He came to save his people from
their sins. That's why it came. He wasn't trying to gain a following.
He wasn't trying to win friends and influence people. He wasn't
trying to market himself or advertise himself. He wasn't trying to
get people to believe through his miracles. The Lord Jesus
Christ does not try to do anything. Whatever he intends to do, that's
what he does. He's not trying to influence
people. The Lord doesn't influence. came to save his people from
their sins. I love this early in his public
ministry. He said, my meat is to do the
will of him that sent me and to finish his work. And in his
great high priestly prayer for his people, he said, I have glorified
thee on the earth. I have finished the work thou
gavest me to do. He said, I'm not sent but to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That's a reference to
every believer, even all of God's elect. The lost sheep of the
house of Israel. Those are the only ones I've
come for. He didn't come to influence the world. You see, he has a
people called his sheep, given to him by his father, the ones
he laid down his life for, and he is on the trail of his sheep. And that's what the preaching
of the gospel is. It's not trying to influence
the culture. It's not trying to win the world over. We're
on the trail of God's sheep, the ones he gave his life for,
and they shall hear his voice. Now look in verse 17. Now this
was all done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by
Isaiah the prophet. Now remember, I like what Claire
said, we have the Old Testament, to see if what we're hearing
is the truth. And here he quotes Isaiah the
prophet from Isaiah chapter 42. And he says, Behold, my servant,
whom I've chosen, my beloved, and whom my soul is well pleased,
I'll 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 street, a bruised reed shall he not break,
and a smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment
unto victory, and in his name shall the Gentiles trust. Now
let's go over to Isaiah 42 for a second. Isaiah chapter 42,
this is what was quoted. Written 700 years before by the
prophet Isaiah in the gospel of Isaiah. God says, Behold my servant whom
I uphold. Now what does God say of His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ? He's my servant. He's equal with
the Father, and the only desire He had was to do His Father's
will. That's it. That's the servant
of God, isn't it? My purpose is to do the will
of him that sent me. I came down from heaven not to
do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. He truly
is Jehovah's servant. Behold him. Behold him. Look what he says next. Mine
elect. Now, if you would understand
election, and the Bible teaches election, there's no debate about
that. Somebody says, I don't see that in the scripture, then
you're not reading. It's there, God elected who would be saved
before time began, God's choice. But if I only understand election
by thinking God makes some kind of arbitrary choice, well, I'm
gonna choose this one, I'm gonna pass that one by. I'm gonna save
this one, well, I'm gonna damn that one. That's no understanding
of election. That's not what it is at all. Christ is God's
elect and all of the elect are chosen in him. Now, this is mysterious. It's not so much something to
be understood, but believed. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. God's elect have
always been in Christ. And when he talks about his elect,
he talks about his son, behold mine Christ be my first elect,
he said, then chose us in him our living head. Behold, mine
elect, in whom my soul delighteth. Oh, how the Father delights in
the Son. This is my Son, in whom I'm well
pleased. Hear ye him. I put my spirit upon him. He
doesn't have the spirit by measure. And he shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. Not the judgment of condemnation,
but the judgment of justification. How Gentiles can be saved by
the work of Christ in a way that honors God's justice. 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. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. And look at this verse, verse four. He shall not
fail, nor be discouraged, till he hath set judgment in the earth,
and the isles shall wait for his law. We're going to come back to Matthew
12 as it's quoted in just a moment, but I want us to think about
this statement about the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall not fail. He shall not be discouraged.
Now most preaching, listen real carefully, most preaching says
that Jesus Christ shed his blood for everybody to make salvation
available for everybody. And that has a certain appeal
to fallen humanity. Problem is it's not true. And if Jesus Christ, listen to
me carefully, if Jesus Christ could die for someone and pay
for their sins and they end up in hell anyway, he's a failure. That's all you can call it. If
He intended to do something, if He intended to save you, and
you end up not being saved, He failed in His intentions. And
that is high blasphemy. It's utter wickedness to speak
of Him in a way that He could fail. There's no gospel in that
message. He shall not fail. Everybody He intends to save,
saves. He's not going to be discouraged,
frustrated because his intentions didn't come through. He shall
not fail nor be discouraged. Now that's the Christ of the
Bible. And if you hear a Christ that's not that Christ, he's
not the living Christ. And this is the quotation that
Matthew uses to demonstrate what our Lord was doing, why he was
holding his peace. Now turn back to Matthew chapter
12, verse 16, and he charged them
that they should not make him known that it might be fulfilled,
which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, that passage
we just read from Isaiah 42, behold my servant, whom I have
chosen My beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased. And let me tell you something,
if you and I are in Christ, you know God's well pleased with
you. His soul is well pleased with you in Christ. All of God's
salvation is in Christ. I will put my spirit upon him
and he shall show forth judgment unto the Gentiles. Now this judgment
is not for them to be condemned. He said, I came not to condemn
the world. The world already was condemned.
I came that the world through me might be saved. He came to
save, not to condemn. You're already condemned. You
know that you're already condemned. You're already condemned. He
didn't come to condemn you. If you're saved, he came to save
you. That was His purpose in coming. He shall show forth judgment. That's the judgment of justification.
Judgment. Everything the Lord does is absolutely
just. And if you're saved, it's gonna
be in a way that honors His justice. And that's what the gospel does.
Your sin's punished to the praise of the glory of His justice.
Yet you're saved by what He did to the praise of the glory of
His grace. He shall send forth judgment. He shall show judgment
to the Gentiles. I love this verse 19. He shall
not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the
streets. He's not gonna debate and argue.
You know, whenever you and I get in a religious debate or argument,
it's just not right. It's just not right. The truth's
not up for debate in the first place. And when somebody argues,
it's because they're really not very sure of their position in
the first place. He didn't come to argue and debate. He's not going to cry in order
to try and get men's attention. You know, he used a loud voice
very seldom. And when he did cry out, it was
always appropriate. Like I said, he wasn't trying
to gain a following. You know, I've sometimes wondered what
preachers think that are real loud when they read this verse.
The Lord would like that. He shall not cry nor strive,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets. He's not trying
to gain a following. The Lord's above that. He doesn't need a
following. He's the son of God. Now, verse
20. A bruised reed shall he not break,
And smoking flax shall he not quench. Now, have I ever seen this as a description
of me? A bruised reed. That hollow reed bent over, crushed,
it isn't good for anything. I remember when I was a kid,
I used to, the wrapping paper was wrapped around those hollow
cardboard things and I remember when it was gone, I was always
excited because I could play with it. I'd play like it was a sword
and I'd be, but finally I'd hit something and boom, there it
goes. Weak, useless, I'd throw it away then. Wouldn't do me
good, couldn't be a sword for me. A bruised reed, broken, weak,
worthless, good for nothing. That's what a bruised reed is.
It's good for nothing. It's so weak, I couldn't help
but think of Mephibosheth when David said, is there any of the
house of Israel that I may show the kindness of God to for Jonathan's
sake? And Ziba said, yeah, there's
one. but he's not worth anything.
He's lame on both of his feet. He can't work for you and he
can't fight for you. All he can be is carried. He can't contribute anything
to your kingdom. He's just a cripple. Then all
he can do is be supported. That's it. A bruised reed. Crushed. No strength. A smoking flax. Now you've seen
when a candle has gone out and all you have is that little ember
that puts out a smell that's not good. But one thing about
that candle, it's not providing any heat. It's not providing
any light. It's just about to go out There's
nothing weaker than that dying ember of that smoking flax. It represents weakness and inability. That's what it is about because
of its sin. And maybe at one time it thought
it was a light, but now through personal and repeated sin, it
feels like it's nothing more than a dying ember ready to go
out. You know what the Lord says?
He says, I won't quench it. I won't break that bruised reed,
and I will not put out that smoking flax. How tender the Lord Jesus
Christ is toward that bruised reed that has nothing to bring
to the table, nothing but sin, that smoking flax, nothing but
sin. You know, the bruised reed and
the smoking flax is somebody who really believes they're sinners.
They really believe that. They really believe that all
they do is sin. They really believe that they
cannot not sin. They really believe that their
sin is all their fault. It's all my fault. I can't blame
God. I can't blame my circumstances. I'm the one that got myself in
this mess. It's all my fault. I can't look down my nose at
anybody. I can't sit in judgment on anybody. I have no claims
on God because of my sin. I'm a bruised, crushed wreath. I'm a smoking flax about to go
out. I'm nothing but weakness. And
the Lord says, I won't put you out till, look at our text, till
he send forth judgment unto victory. Not to condemnation, but to victory. Isaiah's account says judgment
unto truth, but here is the truth about this bruisery. Here's the
truth about this smoking flax. And you look at the way they
look at themselves. I mean, they look at themselves as weakness
and inability incarnate. That's how they see themselves.
No question about it. This is me, this bruised reed
and this smoking flax. Yet the Lord says, I'm not going
to put them out until I show forth judgment unto victory. Now, what that's talking about
is his great work on the tree. On Calvary's tree. He took the
sins of all of these bruised reeds and smoking flaxes and
made them his own. He became, though he never sinned
in his person, he became that bruised reed, that smoking flax. He knew sin. He knew it. Now he knew no sin
in his life, but on Calvary's tree, he was made to know it.
And you know what he did? He put it away. Sin was judged. And this judgment is unto victory. Thanks be unto God who always
causes us to triumph in Christ. You know, let me give you a statement
that I loathe and despise. He's living a defeated Christian
life. Ain't no such thing. In Christ,
I am always victorious. Thanks be unto God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He brought forth
judgment. He made a way for God to be just
and justify folks like me and you. And he brings forth judgment
unto victory. Now my victory. is him saying,
it is finished. Is that your victory? Is that
your victory? Where he said, not something
you've done or achieved. You're a smoking flax in a bruised
reed. You have no strength in yourself.
But your victory is when he said, it is finished. look at what verse 21 says. And
in his name shall the Gentiles trust. In his name. Now his name is
who he is. And he has a lot of names in
the scriptures. You know that. We considered one last week,
I am that I am. Jehovah Tekinu, the Lord our
Righteousness. There's scores of names of the
Lord in the Bible to give us some indication of who He is.
That's how we can identify if we're hearing the right one,
but I believe the name that is most especially meant when it
says in his name, shall the Gentiles trust, is that name that Paul
gave that Gentile when he said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Now he's the Lord. He's the Lord. I don't know how many times I've
heard preachers say, won't you make him Lord of your life? You
can't do that. He already is the Lord. You don't
make him Lord. He is the Lord. Romans 14, nine
says to them, this in Christ both died and revived that he
might be Lord, both of the dead and the living. If you're dead,
he's your Lord. You might not know it, but he's
still your Lord. You can't make him Lord. If you live, you know
He's Lord. He's Lord of creation. He spake
the creation into existence. He's Lord of providence. His
will is what causes everything. There's nothing outside of His
will. He's Lord of salvation. Your salvation's up to Him. It's
up to Him. It's not in your hands. It's
up to Him. He's Lord. He's Jesus. The Savior. He's the Savior. Thou shalt call
His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins."
He's the Savior. He came to save. Do you need
saved? You know you can't save yourself and you need saved?
Well, He's the Savior. Call upon His name. He's the
Christ. He's God's anointed Messiah. He's God's prophet. He's the
Word of God. He's God's priest. He's the one
who brings smoking flaxes and bruised reeds into the Father's
presence, and they're accepted. He's the King whose will must
be done. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. In
His name shall the Gentiles trust. Now that word trust, It's the
word that's generally translated hope. In his name shall the Gentiles
hope. Now what is hope? It's a good
question. Hope is a confident expectation
regarding the future. It's not something you're experiencing
right now. What a man sees, why does he yet hope for it? Paul
says in Romans chapter 8. Hope that's seen is not hope. It's turned into experience.
So when we're talking about hope, we're talking about something
in our subjective experience. We have an experience, but we
have confident expectation. Hope. In his name shall the Gentiles
hope. Now here's my confident expectation. This is what I'm hoping in. I
have a hope that on judgment day, A thrice holy God is going
to look me over and say, faultless, perfect. He's never disobeyed
my law. He's always done that which is
pleasing in my sight. It's what the Bible calls justification.
Now, if you look at judgment as, well, I hope I get by, you
don't really understand justification. If you think, well, I'm afraid
God will, he might forgive me, but he's still going to judge
me according to my disobedience here on earth. You've missed
justification altogether. Justification is no guilt before
God. Perfect in God's sight. I've
got a hope that when God sees this man talking to you, he's
going to see someone without fault. And I have a hope that
everything between now and then is working together for my good
and His glory. Everything. The good, the bad,
everything. That's my hope. Now, can I see
it? No. Do I hope it? Yes. Can I see that I'm without fault
before God? No, I'm conscious of so much
sin. Can I see everything's working together for my good? No, I can't.
It seems like awful. but I have a hope that it is. Now I love what Peter said, always
be ready to give every man that asks you a reason for the hope
that's in you. Now let me close by giving you
the reason for my hope. I have a hope. Every believer
has a hope. I don't have a hope that some
other believer doesn't have. This is the hope of every believer. I
have a hope and you have a hope if you're a believer that you
stand faultless, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in God's sight
through the work of Christ. And you have a hope that everything
between now and then, between now and judgment day, everything
that's ever happened to you, God has used for your good. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to his purpose. Now, what is the reason for that
hope? Scripture. I'm not just giving my thoughts,
scripture. I better be able to point to
the scripture to tell why I have this hope that I stand justified
before God, without guilt, perfect, just like Christ, in Christ,
and everything will be working together for my good. I can quote
scripture, Dave, that's why I believe that. Secondly, here's a reason
for my hope. My hope comes to me where I am. Not where I should be. There's a lot of places I should
be that I'm not. But my hope does not wait to where I get
to where I should be. My hope comes to me where I am
and does that which I need for me. If it has to wait for me
to get to where I should be, I've got no hope. But my hope
comes to me where I am, dead a bruised reed and a smoking
flax. My hope is carried all the way
through by God. That's my hope. He that has begun
a good work in you will perform it into the day of Jesus Christ. My hope is that Jesus Christ
took full responsibility for my salvation. and that everything
God requires of me, He looks to the Son for. Therefore, I
have everything. And my hope honors every attribute
of God. It honors His justice. My sins
were paid for. The justice of God slew me. It
honors His sovereignty. He sovereignly gave me salvation. It honors His Holiness, He makes
me holy. Puts away my sin. It honors His
wisdom. He's found a way to be just and
justifier. Every attribute of God, whatever
it is, is honored in my hope. What a salvation. My hope gives me life, enables
me to do. what God requires me to do. God
requires me to believe. You can't believe for me. God
the Holy Spirit doesn't believe for me. But He gives me life
and causes me to believe the gospel. He causes me to be in
repentance toward Him. He gives me love to Himself.
He did it, not me. But I do it by the life He gives
me. And He preserves me and cleanses
me daily. And he's going to raise me, my
hope is he's going to raise me from the dead and I'm going to
be presented perfect in Christ Jesus. Now that is the name in
which the Gentiles trust. That is the name in which bruised
reeds and smoking flaxes trust. And he brings forth judgment
unto victory. Right now, believe on Him. Now that man who had withered
hand, he couldn't do it. His hand was withered. But when
the Lord said, stretch forth your hand, he did it, didn't
he? Right now, You are commanded
to believe on the name of Jesus Christ as all that's needed for
you to be perfect before God. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
tender compassion toward the bruised reed and the
smoking flax. And how we thank you that you
brought forth judgment unto victory. Lord, how we delight in seeing
that you're not trying to influence or you're not trying to get people
to believe. Lord, how we thank you that you're
God and there is none other. Lord, take this message and bless
it to the salvation of your people. Give each one of us grace to
believe. Say to each heart here, believe. And Lord, by thy grace, we will.
In Christ's name we pray.