Matthew 12:18-21

That was a lovely time, the Lord's Supper this morning, and it's a it's an honor that we should cherish. May the Lord preserve us from ever taking that for granted, the privilege of having that focus time upon the Lord Jesus. Let's continue to think about him by reading of him in the Scriptures.

Let's turn to the gospel according to Matthew and chapter 12, please. Matthew chapter 12, we're going to read from verse 9 to the end of the chapter. Earlier in this chapter is when the disciples were taking from the grain fields on the Sabbath.

That upset the Pharisees, of course. Now, verse number 9, moving on from there, he entered their synagogue. There he saw a man who had a shriveled hand, and in order to accuse him they asked him, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? He replied to them, who among you if he had a sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath wouldn't take hold of it and lift it out? A person is worth far more than a sheep.

A person is worth far more than a sheep, so it is lawful to do what is good on the Sabbath. Then he told the man, stretch out your hand. So he stretched it out and it was restored as good as the other, but the Pharisees went out and plotted against him how they might kill him.

Jesus was aware of this and withdrew. Large crowds followed him and he healed them all. He warned them not to make him known so that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled.

Notice the words at the beginning of verse 17, so that, so there's a connection, he warns them not to make him known so that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. Here is my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight. I will put my spirit on him and he will proclaim justice to the nations.

He will not argue or shout and no one will hear his voice in the streets. He will not break a bruised reed and he will not put out a smoldering wick or the smoking flax. He will not put out a smoldering wick until he has led justice to victory.

The nations will put their hope in his name. That is Isaiah 42. I might have said we'll read to the end of the chapter but that will suffice, I'm sorry.

One of the things that Matthew is doing as he presents this story to us in Matthew chapter 12, he is contrasting the gentle and lowly Lord Jesus with the worldly Pharisees. They were religious men but they were worldly men. They are self-seeking, they are violent, they are power-hungry, that's the Pharisees.

They're thinking that that man was made for the Sabbath earlier in the chapter and that's why they're so quick to condemn the disciples when they're eating from the grain fields on the Sabbath. And now they're questioning whether the Lord should actually help somebody on the Sabbath and when he does it, and of course the people are amazed, the Pharisees respond by wanting to kill him. So on the one hand you've got this fierce, envious, power-hungry, proud group of Pharisees and then the humility and the lowliness of the Lord Jesus.

And God says not about the Pharisees, about the Lord Jesus, he says behold my servant. This is my servant. These men over here they don't even know me but this is my servant and he's showcasing the beauty of his humble and lowly character.

He has just described his own character at the end of chapter 11. It's possibly the only time, is it, that the Lord Jesus speaks of his own character. He says I am meek and lowly, I am lowly and humble of heart.

Learn of me, he says. Be my disciple. Learn of me and see that I am meek and I'm lowly of heart.

And this lowly, humble servant is a dignified servant. And God displays and pronounces his dignity upon him. He says this is my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom is all my delight.

Matthew's very focused on presenting the Lord Jesus as the fulfiller of Scripture. The fulfiller of Scripture. Ten times you will get a phrase like we have in verse number 17, so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled.

So that it might be fulfilled. About ten times in the gospel according to Matthew. And the Lord Jesus fulfilled Old Testament Scripture.

It's like someone has compared it to Old Testament Scripture being like a container. And the Lord Jesus has poured himself in to the container of the Scripture and he has filled it to the brim. He is the substance of Old Testament prophecy.

It all looks forward to him. He's the fulfiller of Scripture. And the way he fulfills Scripture at times surprises us.

Or at least the way Matthew says that he fulfills Scripture surprises us. Matthew chapter 2 is a great example. Joseph and Mary take the Lord Jesus down to Egypt for his safety.

And they stayed there a little while in Egypt. They come back up to the land of Israel. Matthew highlights the land.

They come back into the land of Israel so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled. Out of Egypt I have called my son. Hosea chapter 11.

Now had we just read that in Hosea 11, we would never have thought that that was talking about the Christ. Because you read it and you think well this is God talking about Israel. But what God is saying in Hosea 11 is that Israel's experience and what Matthew is teaching us, Israel's experience was like a type of the Lord Jesus.

Points to him. Back when Israel's life was threatened. Remember Jacob is called Israel.

Back when Israel's life was threatened by famine. Israel goes down into Egypt to preserve their life. God calls them out of Egypt.

He leads them into their land of promise. That's like the Lord Jesus. You can say the Lord Jesus is the true Israel.

That doesn't mean that there isn't a national sense of Israel. There sure is. In fact, you look in those servant songs of Isaiah where the Lord Jesus is called Israel, my servant Israel and the servant Israel restores the nation of Israel.

He is the true Israel. There is still a future for the nation of Israel. But the Lord Jesus is the true Israel.

He goes down into Egypt for the preservation of his life. He leads them up in an exodus foreshadowing a future exodus. He's back in the land.

He's the king in the land. He fulfills Hosea chapter 11. He full fills the scripture.

Matthew has another interesting one there in chapter 2. To fulfill what was spoken of through the prophets that he would be called a Nazarene. Well, that is a very interesting fulfillment of scripture because you can read the the Old Testament from start to finish 17 times and you're never going to find a scripture that says he shall be called a Nazarene. I don't think.

Have you have you found it yet, John? Have you found that? No, I didn't think so. Not going to find it. What's it mean? Well, in Matthew chapter 2, he references multiple fulfillments.

He talks about the Lord Jesus being born in Bethlehem. That was in Micah. So he says what was written by the prophet singular.

Then he talks about Hosea's words. He says what was spoken of the Lord through the prophet singular. Then he mentions a prophecy from Jeremiah.

What was spoken of through Jeremiah, the prophet singular. He went down to Nazareth to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets. Plural.

Well, that's interesting. Well, scripture interprets scripture, doesn't it? And I would suggest that John chapter 1 is a big clue because in John chapter 1, when when they hear that the Lord Jesus comes from Nazareth, the question is, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Lowly, despised, rejected Nazareth. That's what that's what being a Nazarene conveyed, being despised and rejected.

And multiple Old Testament prophets spoke of the Lord Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah being despised and rejected. David spoke of it more than once. Daniel speaks of his being cut off.

Isaiah clearly speaks of it. And so the Lord Jesus grows up in Nazareth as a broad fulfillment of Old Testament scriptures concerning his being despised and rejected. But the one that the people rejected with animosity and violence in Matthew chapter 12 is the one that God calls my servant, my beloved, my chosen.

Often the scripture that God leads Matthew to quote from is Isaiah. And the longest of Matthew's Old Testament quotations is right here in chapter 12 from Isaiah 42. I will put my spirit upon him.

Well, there's the key to living a God honoring life. A spiritually rich life is a life that's empowered by the Holy Spirit. Well, in the Lord Jesus, we see the perfect exemplar of that empowered and led of the spirit.

Remember how Luke says he... Mark says the spirit drives him into the wilderness. Luke says he went down there full of the spirit. John chapter 3, he receives the spirit without measure.

The fullness of the spirit's power flows through the Lord Jesus like no one else. And the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, and self-control. Remember that one? And I would say that's what's going on in the context here, is the self-control of the lowly and humble Lord Jesus.

I think as he's referencing Isaiah 42, he's particularly thinking of the words that we have here in verse 19 and 20 in Matthew 12, that he doesn't raise his voice, that he will not break a bruised reed or put out the smoldering wick or the smoking flax. And so he's comparing weak and needy people to bruised reeds and smoldering wicks. Reeds are a grass-like plant.

They grow in the millions in marshes and in wetlands, and they had multiple uses, but whatever you were going to use the reed for, you needed the whole reed. You don't want a cracked or a damaged reed. I used to play saxophone in junior high school, middle school.

Yeah, I'll leave those references alone. But anyway, I did play some saxophone, and you used to read, you know, these woodwind instruments. And if that reed cracked, as it would after time because of the moisture of your mouth, then you're going to get a bit of an airy sound.

It's not going to sound as good, but it's no big deal because you can easily get another reed. They're pretty cheap, and they were pretty cheap in the day of the Lord Jesus as well because they grew plentifully. And because they were so inexpensive, if you had a damaged or a bruised reed, you just discard it.

You replace it. There's plenty more to choose from. They're a dime a dozen.

Just go and get another one, a better one. Are there any bruised reeds here today? Do you sort of limp into the conference spiritually? And you try and cover that limp up so that others don't know how you feel, but you're feeling like a damaged reed. Maybe you feel you've been bruised by the world.

Maybe you've been bruised just by the hardships of life that have worn you down a little bit and beat you up. Maybe you've been bruised by the way others have treated you, and you feel a little bit beat down by them. And so you come limping into conference, and you feel like your spiritual life is a little bit shattered.

You're like a bruised reed. What does the Lord Jesus say? Oh, well, sure, my people are like a dime a dozen. If you can't keep your spiritual life together, well, I'm going to move on.

I've got a couple other hundred Christians here I can work with, and I can just flick you away, throw you back into the wetlands, and I can take someone else and use them. I don't need you. That's not how our Lord Jesus works.

A bruised reed, he doesn't break. In other words, he doesn't say, I'm finished with you. I'm just going to finish you off.

You've already experienced some damage by your own bad choices. Well, let me just finish you off. That's not how the Lord handles us.

He repairs us. He strengthens us. I spoke with, I think, a conference I was at years ago, and believers I had just met were staying at the same house in which I was staying, and we spoke for a little while on Saturday night, and they had gone through some real difficult things.

And he had some really helpful insights, some fresh perspective on just dealing with trials, and he had a really good angle. At that time, I was associated with Truth and Tidings, and I said, you should write an article about this. This is really good.

We'd like to have you write something about this. And right away, he said, no, no, no, no, man, not me. No, I'm damaged goods.

No, I'm damaged goods. They don't want to hear from me. And I felt very bad because the Lord Jesus specializes in damaged goods.

Now, let's be honest. We're all damaged goods. We are all damaged goods, and we all have baggage, and we all get bruised at times.

We're fragile, bruised reeds, and the Lord Jesus doesn't break us. The smoking flax, the smoldering wick, he will not quench. He refers to like the braided fibers that would take the wax of a candle or the oil of a lamp to allow it to continue to burn brightly.

If it's smoldering, I mean, that's not just a disappointment to us. It's actually quite a nuisance. You don't just want this black smoke without the flame.

It smells bad. It looks bad. It's not accomplishing its purpose.

The natural thing would be just to snuff it out, get another one. You can throw this one away. If it's just smoldering, it's no good to you.

Snuff it out. Maybe there's a smoldering wick here. And you used to burn quite brightly for the Lord, like John described as a burning and a shining lamp.

Maybe you used to burn a little bit brighter, and now there's just a few puffs of black smoke. Just as I say that, I think of a brother and a young man who's going through I don't know what he's going through. He's going through a hard time.

I think of the energy that he used to have in the Lord's work. I think of the way that he could have articulated the gospel. And I think now how if you try to have a spiritual conversation with him, it's just a blank stare at the moment.

It hurts. Smoldering wick. What do you think the Lord does? Does he just sort of cross his arms, shake his head in disappointment? Might as well snuff that one out too.

I'll just put him in my pile of discarded disciples. The Lord Jesus doesn't have a pile of discarded disciples. The smoldering wick, he does not put out.

He's very, very patient with us. And he's able, this is the great grace of the Lord Jesus, he is able to make you burn brightly again and brighter than you have before for his glory. You know, we speak a lot about wanting to be challenged at conferences, and it's true, of course it's true.

It's good. And I mean, if we're going to listen to the Bible for two whole days, we better be challenged. If we don't hear a challenge in listening to the Bible preached over a couple of days, then maybe we're not listening.

But while it should challenge us, listen, brothers and sisters, a conference shouldn't leave us feeling defeated. It shouldn't leave us going away thinking, this is hopeless. It shouldn't leave us going away thinking, well, I just got to work harder and I just got to do better.

I don't think that's the solution. But if we could get a fresh appreciation of the Lord Jesus and his glory and wonder of being united with him and and become worshippers again, amazed at the glory of God and and recognize what the scripture speaks to us. Not only does it speak to us by the spirit, but the spirit within us can empower us to carry it out, to practice it.

And and God is using conferences like this to make us more like the Lord Jesus. Then we don't leave defeated, we leave challenged, but encouraged to walk closer with the Lord Jesus again and with the confidence that he's willing to walk with us, with the confidence that he will disciple us. We talk a lot about discipling people or we hear it from time to time.

Well, we want to be discipled by the Lord Jesus. That's who we want to be discipled by. And he invites us at the end of chapter 11 to come unto him and learn of him and find rest for our souls.

And what we learn of him is that he welcomes us, that he's patient with us, that he restores us, that he is gentle and lowly with us. He is mighty and he is humble and he is strong and he is gracious to the weak. Rejoice in the grace and patience of your Lord Jesus.

I will put my spirit upon him. He will not argue or shout and no one will hear his voice in the streets. He will not break a bruised reed and he will not put out a smoldering wick.

Let us keep our eye upon him, rejoice in him and thank him for the grace that he shows to us.