WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.800 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:32.399 If you take your Bibles or your device with me to Matthew chapter 12, I'd like to direct your attention this morning to verses 14 through 21. 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:35.439 Verses 14 through 21. 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:56.560 This passage is important for us to grasp and understand because every single person has or likely will be in the position of needing to speak to a particular situation that arises from this passage of scripture. 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:04.640 You've probably talked to or known or been in the place yourself where you come to a passage of scripture and it just doesn't make sense. 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:12.879 Or you perceive that there's some element that is untrue or is in contradiction to something else. 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:14.560 And what do you do with that? 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:15.599 How do you handle it? 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:25.120 You've probably known people and are aware of people who just say, no, I don't want anything to do with that because there are so many contradictions in the Bible that it just, I don't want to have to deal with that. 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:32.239 This passage of scripture is addressing one of those elements and it helps us speak to that as well. 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:40.400 So it's important to understand for us, especially as we seek to relate to other people who have these kinds of struggles. 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:44.560 I'd like to begin this morning in verse 14. 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:51.680 Our text actually begins in verse 15, but I'd like to begin reading in verse 14 to help us get the context a little bit. 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:56.480 It says the Pharisees went out and conspired against Jesus. 00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:58.879 That is, how to destroy him. 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:03.920 Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:11.120 And many people followed him, and he healed them all, and he ordered them not to make him known. 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:15.759 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:22.479 Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:27.840 I will put my spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:32.800 He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:44.719 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory, and in his name the Gentiles will hope. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:45.840 Amen. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:57.680 One of the issues of concern that some people have is an element in the gospels that's often referred to as the messianic secret. 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:04.560 That is, why would Jesus tell people to not speak of him? 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:14.159 Why would Jesus heal a man with a withered hand, give him a brand new hand, and then tell him, don't tell anybody? 00:03:14.719 --> 00:03:17.520 Literally, don't reveal who I am. 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:23.120 That seems contradictory even to what we know from the Gospel of Matthew. 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:32.000 It's at the end of this gospel that Matthew tells all of Christ's followers, go and as you're going out into the world, make disciples. 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:36.240 How do you make disciples without telling people about Jesus? 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:44.159 So this is one of those passages that seems to be at best a contradiction. 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:47.759 How do we put this together with what comes later in Matthew? 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:55.199 How do we make sense of Jesus wanting the world to know about him and yet then telling people, don't say anything? 00:03:57.199 --> 00:04:02.080 Why does Jesus, in verse 15, back away? 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:05.759 Why does he withdraw from this situation? 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:13.199 If he is God in the flesh, why does he take himself out of this difficult encounter? 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:20.240 Well, you know, sometimes we allow the Bible and its difficulties to tie us into knots. 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:28.240 When in reality the answers are right in front of us if we just take a little bit of time to look carefully. 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:36.800 And that's what I'd like us to do this morning is just to spend a few moments looking carefully to see are there really any difficulties here? 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:40.160 And I think the answer that we will find is no. 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:42.000 It's very, very clear. 00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:45.759 So we start in verses 15, 16, and 17. 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:49.199 We see that there are several actions being described. 00:04:49.839 --> 00:04:56.800 Jesus is in this situation of difficult encounter with people who are conspiring to destroy him. 00:04:57.360 --> 00:04:58.319 They want him gone. 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:01.839 They want him done, over, out of their world. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:04.800 So he withdraws from there. 00:05:04.879 --> 00:05:06.079 He backs away. 00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:07.519 That's one action. 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:13.439 Another action is as he's withdrawing from this situation, people keep on following him. 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:16.560 They don't let him go off on his own. 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:17.759 They follow after him. 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:25.279 And those who follow after him, Jesus responds to them with compassion and grace and mercy, and he heals them. 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:37.600 And then the next action is in verse 16, where he orders them to not make him known, to not reveal who he is. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:42.720 See, there are people who are coming to grasp who Jesus is. 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:59.759 As they grasp who he is, as they understand his power, his authority, his grace, his mercy, they are naturally then inclined to reveal who he is, to make him known, to tell others about him, and he gives a command: don't reveal what you know. 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:03.120 And we ask, why? 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:07.360 The answer is not that difficult. 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:16.879 He tells us in verse 17, this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. 00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:18.800 Period. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:22.319 Why did all of these things happen? 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:24.399 To fulfill Scripture. 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:29.680 Every single element here is a fulfillment of prophetic scripture. 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:33.199 We'll talk about why it's a fulfillment as we go on. 00:06:33.439 --> 00:06:38.319 But just so we can see it in greater clarity here, let me try to show this to you. 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:40.319 Let's ask these things in questions. 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:44.079 Why did Jesus, first off, the first action that we see, why did he withdraw? 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:49.199 Why did he back away from this confrontation with the religious leaders of the Jews? 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:52.240 To fulfill Scripture. 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:54.319 That's what it tells us. 00:06:55.040 --> 00:06:57.680 The next element: why did people follow him? 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:02.959 Why did Jesus respond with grace and mercy, ministering to them to heal them? 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:05.759 He did it to fulfill scripture. 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:07.600 Next question. 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:10.560 Why did people follow him and heal them? 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:12.240 That's the same one, isn't it? 00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:15.920 Why did Jesus withdraw from this dangerous confrontation? 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:18.800 You know the answer. 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:21.680 He did it to fulfill prophetic scripture. 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:32.560 Now we might not be able to make sense of all of the details surrounding that immediately, but we at least have an answer to the question that doesn't seem to make sense. 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:38.240 That is, why does Jesus back away when he is the one in power? 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:41.920 Well, he did it to fulfill Scripture. 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:50.639 It ought to be crystal clear what we are supposed to see in this passage of Scripture. 00:07:51.199 --> 00:08:00.560 God wants us to see beyond any shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the one whom God promised to send. 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:09.519 When you see all of those prophetic statements in the Old Testament in that first portion of your Bible, it all points to Jesus. 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:11.920 That's what Matthew wants us to see. 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:15.439 Everything here points to Jesus. 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:19.680 So let's think about these in a little more depth. 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:24.160 First, let's ask why did the people follow Jesus? 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:26.800 And why did he heal them? 00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:28.639 So Jesus withdrew. 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:34.240 As he withdraws from this confrontation, there are people who follow him and he heals them. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:37.840 Remember, this is the Sabbath day. 00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:46.879 And this began probably early in the morning as Jesus was leading his disciples through the fields on the Sabbath day to go to the synagogue. 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:52.799 On the Sabbath day, they did something that God gave allowance for in the book of Deuteronomy. 00:08:52.879 --> 00:09:02.879 He said, if you're walking through your neighbor's wheat field on a morning when you're hungry, you have grace to pick heads of grain and to eat them to fill your stomach. 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:05.600 He said that in the book of Deuteronomy. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:07.279 Now he went further than that. 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:15.279 He said, You don't have permission to take a sickle to your neighbor's field and start harvesting their grain for you. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:21.440 You can feed your stomach in the moment, but you can't steal their harvest. 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:25.600 But the Pharisees come along and say, hey, wait a minute. 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:28.240 Even though God allowed that, it's breaking another commandment. 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:31.519 So that started the confrontation at the beginning of this chapter. 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:36.480 That moves from the fields to the synagogue, where there is a man with a withered hand. 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:41.919 Whether he's planted there on purpose or whether the Pharisees just take advantage of him being there, we don't know. 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:45.200 But they use that as an opportunity to test Jesus. 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:46.480 Is it okay? 00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:47.360 Is it lawful? 00:09:47.919 --> 00:09:52.480 Is it righteous to do the work of healing on the Sabbath day? 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:59.919 And Jesus, as only God can do, speaks to the man and he says, Stretch out your hand, and instantly he has a new hand. 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:05.039 From there, they desire to destroy him. 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:09.679 Why does Jesus then withdraw? 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:17.519 Why does he go away from this opportunity to really take advantage of the situation? 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:22.639 Now, on the one hand, it makes perfect sense why Jesus went somewhere else. 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:28.080 Most of us would prefer to avoid life-threatening situations. 00:10:30.080 --> 00:10:33.519 We generally try to steer away from those if we can. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:41.679 So it would make sense if Jesus is simply wanting to steer away from a life-threatening situation, but that's not all there is to this account. 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:48.159 We really don't need to speculate about the reason Jesus left the vicious encounter with the Pharisees. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:50.559 The reason is found in your Bible. 00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:53.360 All we need to know is to know more of our Bible. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:57.200 Specifically, we need to know more of Isaiah 42. 00:10:57.679 --> 00:11:02.320 That is the passage that Matthew begins to draw on in verse 18. 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:05.600 You'll notice that there's a quotation mark that begins in verse 18. 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:06.879 Behold, my servant. 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:10.799 That quotation goes all the way through the end of the section in verse 21. 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:17.440 What Matthew's doing here is he's taking his Hebrew Bible and he's translating it into the language of his time. 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:26.559 And as he's doing that translation, he's making some minor adjustments to his translation to make his point clear. 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:36.960 Isaiah, he says, in chapter 42 of Isaiah, refers to this servant person that God has chosen. 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:46.879 He's a unique, specially chosen, specially prepared servant with whom God is well pleased. 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:51.120 But that's not the only detail that Matthew wants us to see. 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:54.559 There's some subtlety to his writing. 00:11:54.879 --> 00:12:03.679 You see, when Isaiah wrote about God's servant in Isaiah 42, he used a Hebrew word that's the word for slave. 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:09.600 And sometimes it's translated slave, sometimes it's translated servant or even bondservant in some translations. 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:23.200 But when Matthew brought that idea into his Greek gospel account, he translated it not with the same equivalent word in Greek for servant or slave, which would be the word dualos. 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:26.559 Instead, he he switched it out. 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:29.039 And he put another word in there. 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:31.519 It's the word that means child. 00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:36.240 Sometimes it's translated son or daughter. 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:41.600 He uses that different word to emphasize the fulfillment of the passage. 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:47.360 So in English, we might paraphrase verse 18 like this. 00:12:48.799 --> 00:13:00.000 Behold, my servant, my son whom I have chosen, my beloved one with whom I am well pleased. 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:03.120 I want to say that again. 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:11.759 And as I say it again, I want you to listen for some echoes to other passages of scripture that you might be familiar with. 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:23.840 Behold, look, my servant, my son whom I've chosen, my beloved one with whom I am well pleased. 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:38.960 Now you might be most familiar with the echo to the transfiguration and the baptism of Jesus, where the voice of God the Father was heard speaking about his son, saying, This is my son with whom I'm well pleased. 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:41.440 That's a very clear echo. 00:13:42.480 --> 00:14:02.559 You might also hear some echoes from God speaking with Abraham in the Old Testament, where God commanded Abraham to take Isaac, his son, his only son, the son he loved, to Mount Moriah to offer him as a sacrifice. 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:06.799 See, we have to catch what Matthew's trying to accomplish here. 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:10.639 He's telling us about Jesus. 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:13.200 What is he telling us about Jesus? 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:16.080 He's telling us that Jesus is the Son of God. 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:25.759 He's the one whom we've already seen in Matthew chapter 11 and so far in chapter 12, the one to whom all power and all authority has been handed over. 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:37.039 He's the one who's come to reveal the Father to us, the one who calls everyone to come after him, to come to him, to take his yoke and to follow him, because he is gentle and lowly in heart. 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:42.559 He is the one who is the Lord of the Sabbath, he's the one who is the caring and merciful creator. 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:45.759 And incredibly, it's this Jesus. 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:49.440 This is the one whom the Pharisees are seeking to destroy. 00:14:51.519 --> 00:15:12.320 The Father's son, his only son, his beloved son, the one before whom the Pharisees, and before you, whom you and I should bow, is the one they're seeking to destroy. 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:15.360 Now, how does this play out? 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:17.200 Look at verse 19. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:22.080 Jesus doesn't fight with his adversaries. 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:25.919 So there's this dangerous encounter where they want to destroy him. 00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:31.120 He doesn't fight with them, he doesn't even verbally spar with them, he doesn't take the fight to them. 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:38.000 Verse 19 says, He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. 00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:42.559 That's not what the Jews expected in a Messiah. 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:47.600 There were a handful of people before Jesus and after Jesus who had a Messiah complex. 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:50.879 And they didn't fight, they didn't back away from a fight. 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:54.399 No, they gathered friends. 00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:56.240 They gathered crowds. 00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:02.799 They gathered people to influence, to fight against their perceived enemies. 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:07.039 That's what the common Jewish perception of a Messiah was. 00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:10.320 Let's gather a crowd, let's go fight against our enemies. 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:13.519 But not God the Son. 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:18.080 You see, Scripture has to be fulfilled. 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:21.679 Scripture has to be fulfilled. 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:27.519 And the scriptures said that Jesus would be humble and not aggressive. 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:34.080 He wouldn't be found debating the sages to win friends and influence others. 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:39.279 He wouldn't crush his enemies while everyone watches like spectators. 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:44.559 No, the scriptures explain in Philippians chapter 2. 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:48.879 The Messiah came like a normal human being. 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:51.759 Like a slave, even. 00:16:52.639 --> 00:17:01.919 A servant who would not demand his own rights and his own prerogatives, but would place others before himself, even if that meant giving his life for them. 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:14.799 Again, we asked the question, why did why did people follow Jesus when he's walking away from a fight? 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:18.640 Why did Jesus heal them? 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:21.680 The answer is very simple. 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:28.880 Now initially we we might think, why wouldn't they follow him? 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:35.599 Here's a guy so so powerful that he can recreate a hand in an instant. 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:41.119 He takes a few loaves and some fish and creates food for thousands of people. 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:44.480 He heals diseases, he raises the dead. 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:47.680 What is there not to like in that situation? 00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:50.640 Who wouldn't want to follow him? 00:17:51.200 --> 00:18:02.000 But if we think along those kinds of terms, we begin to mold our thinking of following Jesus into merely human terms, what he can do for us, what benefits he brings to me. 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:07.839 And if we think in human terms, we begin to miss what Matthew wants us to see. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:17.519 Matthew wants us to see that people followed Jesus and he healed them because that is what Scripture required of the promised Messiah. 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:22.000 Look at verse 20. 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:27.039 A bruised reed he will not break. 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:31.599 And a smoldering wick he will not quench. 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:43.359 Oh, a few days at a time, sometimes for a week at a time. 00:18:43.519 --> 00:18:59.920 And I remember going to small lakes or or ponds and even visiting friends who lived on farms or ranches and being at a place like Devil's Lake, you know, where you find sections of the pond or the lake that'll be be filled with cattails. 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:00.799 Right? 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:07.519 First, I would I would love the feel of the cattail at the top, and so I'd break that off and play with that for a while. 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:13.519 Then I'd go on to another cattail and just grab it in the middle and bend it over. 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:17.599 Well, you know, you know what happens in that kind of situation. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:21.680 It's soft and so it just bends. 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:23.759 It doesn't break. 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:26.880 So you're left with a cattail that's kind of like this. 00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:33.119 Some of you are like that. 00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:40.480 You're bent, you're you're burdened, you're bruised. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:45.119 And Jesus doesn't come along and snap it off. 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:47.839 He doesn't break it. 00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:49.759 He comes to heal it. 00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:55.759 It sounds comforting and inviting to those of us who are hurting, and it should. 00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:06.960 Because so many people today are dealing with bruises, whether they're they're physical bruises or or emotional bruises or spiritual questions and pains. 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:11.279 Many of you are no longer burning brightly. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:13.680 Maybe you feel as though you never have. 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:22.880 Some of you are like like a smoldering wick that doesn't produce much light at all, but only smoke that feels like it irritates people. 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:42.240 You know, a counselor with a gentle spirit, a doctor that that has gentle and caring hands, a shepherd that that has love, genuine, evident love for his sheep. 00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:45.200 Those kind of caregivers are inviting. 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:46.720 They draw you in. 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:51.759 This is Jesus, my friends. 00:20:53.839 --> 00:21:02.079 If you are bruised, if you are bent, if you are smoldering, if you are needing gentle healing or new life, come to him through his word. 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:05.519 He will care for you as no one else can. 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:12.079 The psalmist says, pour out your hearts to him, and he will care for you. 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:19.119 Seek his life, the life that he provides as your own, and he will renew your spirit. 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:22.160 That's what Matthew says happened. 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:30.720 The Bible said, the Bible promised that one would be that kind of shepherd, that kind of counselor, that kind of healer. 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:40.799 And when people follow Jesus seeking that care, all while others are seeking to destroy him, Matthew shows us it proves that Jesus is the one. 00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:43.359 He's fulfilling Scripture. 00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:48.960 And if he fulfills Scripture, then He is the one whom God promised to send. 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:51.839 Think back with me. 00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:57.039 In chapter 9, verse 12, Jesus is the physician who cares for the sick. 00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:08.319 In verse Verse 13 of chapter 9, he is the one who displays mercy to those who generally are not given mercy. 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:18.079 Chapter 9, verse 36, he has compassion on the crowds, crowds that are described as sheep being without a shepherd. 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:22.799 He is Lord over all. 00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:26.640 He's the Father's beloved son. 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:32.640 He's gentle and lowly in heart who does not condemn the innocent. 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:44.400 And when God promised through Isaiah that such a person would come, he spoke of his own servant son, his beloved son, with whom he is well pleased. 00:22:46.240 --> 00:22:48.640 Come to Jesus if you are bruised. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:53.680 Come to him if you are a smoldering wick. 00:22:55.119 --> 00:22:59.920 Come to him if you need a shepherd who is gentle and lowly in heart. 00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:09.920 But come to him not merely because you are broken, not merely because you have hurts, not merely because you have need of care. 00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:11.920 Come to him because he is Jesus. 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:16.960 He is the Father's Son sent to show you the Father and to bring you home to him. 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:22.000 Now why? 00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:29.519 Why would Jesus then say, Don't make me known? 00:23:32.079 --> 00:23:32.960 That's all good. 00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:33.680 That's all great. 00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:36.640 Then how does that make sense with being quiet? 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:41.440 Why did Jesus command them to not reveal him? 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:47.680 Why couldn't the man with the new hand celebrate Jesus? 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:52.720 Why is he forced into silence? 00:23:55.599 --> 00:24:13.759 You know, whenever whenever we hear someone about someone who's who's forced into silence today, our natural conclusion is to assume that there's some ulterior motive behind someone being shut up. 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:18.640 Maybe they've been threatened or with something. 00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:22.400 So we we think there's something else going on, that something else isn't good. 00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:27.680 And in this situation of Jesus commanding silence, there is another motive. 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:38.000 But it is a righteous motive that is eternally good, helpful, and hopefully and redeeming. 00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:39.440 Let's look at it. 00:24:39.599 --> 00:24:43.519 Jesus ordered those who were following him to not make him known. 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:49.279 Those who were healed, those who were restored, encouraged, he said, don't say anything. 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:55.440 Now, if we think about that from a merely human perspective, that makes no sense. 00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:07.039 I can't imagine living with a disease or a disability or having a man speak some words to me and instantly having a new hand and then keeping quiet about that. 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:13.279 Now we want people to talk about Jesus. 00:25:14.799 --> 00:25:20.319 That's what we're called to do, is to be people who tell others about Jesus. 00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:21.680 We want people to know him. 00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:23.039 So why would Jesus do this? 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:25.039 Well, Matthew tells us, doesn't he? 00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:30.559 See, there are many times when studying your Bible is not easy. 00:25:31.119 --> 00:25:35.119 When finding the answers is sometimes quite difficult. 00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:38.160 But there are other times when we just don't look. 00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:41.279 When we overlook it. 00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:46.640 And that's the case here because when we look carefully, we see that Matthew gives us the answer. 00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:50.400 Jesus wants people to be quiet because it fulfills Scripture. 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:58.079 You'll notice that quotation that goes from verse 18 to verse 21, it's all one unit that fulfills Scripture. 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:11.279 And he's using that to say, here's how all of this, from Jesus withdrawing to healing people to keeping people quiet, here's how this all fulfills Scripture. 00:26:12.640 --> 00:26:18.640 So how then does Jesus wanting people to keep quiet fulfill scripture? 00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:29.519 Well, I want you to notice that there are eight future tense verbs in this reference to Isaiah 42, beginning in the middle of verse 18. 00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:35.920 There are eight actions that God said would be evident that would be seen in the promised Messiah. 00:26:36.319 --> 00:26:40.240 He says, I will put, I will put my spirit upon him. 00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:49.119 He will proclaim, he will not quarrel, he will not cry aloud, nor will anyone hear him. 00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:54.319 He will not break, he will not quench, he brings justice. 00:26:56.319 --> 00:27:06.240 Eight things from the from still future from the times, time point of Isaiah, who wrote them, that the Messiah would fulfill. 00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:10.640 And they're consecutive, they're one after another. 00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:17.920 There's no explanation, there's no description, it's just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, rapid fire. 00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:33.440 Isaiah's promised servant, this son of the Father, would have a special endowment of the Spirit of God, and in the power of that spirit, he would fulfill all of the elements required or recorded by Isaiah. 00:27:35.920 --> 00:27:37.279 Pause for a moment. 00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:42.000 Just consider that reality. 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:53.119 Eight prophecies are said to be fulfilled in Jesus just from a few verses in Isaiah 42. 00:27:55.519 --> 00:28:08.480 Peter Stoner, in his book Science Speaks, applies the modern science of probability to those eight future tense verbs. 00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:16.960 Trying to figure out what's the probability that one human being, that one person would fulfill all eight of those prophecies. 00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:23.519 I didn't take probability or statistics or anything like that. 00:28:23.759 --> 00:28:25.359 Wasn't my cup of tea. 00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:28.559 So I'm quoting somebody else here, all right? 00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:43.200 This scholar says that the probability of Jesus fulfilling these eight prophecies is one in ten to the seventeenth power. 00:28:43.680 --> 00:28:45.920 Should have put this on the screen for you. 00:28:46.799 --> 00:28:52.960 That would be one, one chance out of one hundred quadrillion. 00:28:53.680 --> 00:28:56.880 That's one with 17 zeros behind it. 00:28:59.759 --> 00:29:06.640 The author suggests that we we imagine this probability in a very practical way. 00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:10.400 He suggests that we we take silver dollars. 00:29:10.559 --> 00:29:12.799 Most of you have seen a silver dollar, right? 00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:18.319 That we take silver dollars and we we lay them all over the state of Texas. 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:21.279 State of Texas is a pretty big state. 00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:33.519 So we lay them, we cover the state of Texas with silver dollars, and then we we stack layers on top of layer until those silver dollars are two feet deep. 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:36.319 That about two feet. 00:29:37.039 --> 00:29:39.680 All over the state of Texas. 00:29:40.400 --> 00:29:44.480 Then he suggests that we take one silver dollar and we mark it up. 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:48.559 And we just toss it out into the pile and then we stir it all up. 00:29:50.319 --> 00:29:59.599 Then he suggests we blindfold one of you and tell you you have to find that silver dollar. 00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:10.000 You can go as far as you want, you can walk as far as you want, you can dig through as many as you want, blindfolded, but you have to find that marked silver dollar. 00:30:11.759 --> 00:30:19.839 He says, in probability, that's the chance that Jesus fulfills these eight prophecies. 00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:26.319 And yet that's the very thing that Matthew wants us to see. 00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:35.039 Jesus isn't just a blindfolded man who happens upon a marked silver dollar in the state of Texas. 00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:37.920 No, not at all. 00:30:38.480 --> 00:30:52.240 He's the one whom God intended, God determined, God established in eternity past would come and fulfill not just one prophetic statement, not just eight prophetic statements, but hundreds of them. 00:30:53.920 --> 00:30:59.039 As no one else could unless it was predetermined that Jesus would do it. 00:30:59.200 --> 00:31:06.240 And Matthew wants us to know that Jesus is the Messiah and to know for certain that Jesus is the one of whom the prophets spoke. 00:31:06.400 --> 00:31:11.279 And here are a mere eight reasons to rest in that. 00:31:13.039 --> 00:31:20.160 Of course, many of you, hopefully all of you, know who Jesus is and you've placed your faith in him alone for your salvation. 00:31:21.519 --> 00:31:23.680 If that's the case, praise God. 00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:30.240 This should strengthen your faith and your trust in him and solidify that. 00:31:30.799 --> 00:31:37.759 Solidify that he is the one who's called Emmanuel, and it ought to encourage you to speak more of him. 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:54.319 But if that's not you, if you are searching for hope, like a bruised and bent reed or a smoldering wick, Matthew is saying to you, here's the one you need to find. 00:31:55.359 --> 00:31:57.119 Here's the one you need to come to. 00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:03.680 Now of these eight elements, one is repeated twice. 00:32:05.279 --> 00:32:06.160 Justice. 00:32:06.400 --> 00:32:10.160 In verse 18, he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. 00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:14.880 Verse 20, until he brings justice to victory. 00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:38.799 Now, in our current cultural climate, especially in the United States, it wouldn't be unusual to hear this passage referred to or spoken of, much like we often hear Micah 6.8 referenced, as a command for God's people and God's church to pursue justice for all people. 00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:55.359 Now, regardless of whether that is a good or bad thing or a right or a wrong thing to be involved in, we have to be careful to not make a passage of Scripture mean something it doesn't mean. 00:32:56.000 --> 00:33:04.319 And I want you to see that seeing this passage in light of our current cultural context is not what this passage was intended for. 00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:07.039 There are at least three reasons. 00:33:07.359 --> 00:33:11.759 Number one, this passage is not about human justice. 00:33:13.359 --> 00:33:22.720 Nowhere does this passage call us as God's people or God's church to do justice or to bring about justice for other people. 00:33:23.920 --> 00:33:27.519 In fact, it doesn't even call us to follow Jesus' example. 00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:31.680 There are other passages that call us to follow those things. 00:33:32.160 --> 00:33:34.000 This one doesn't. 00:33:34.880 --> 00:33:40.319 This section is intended to show us Jesus as the Father's promised Son. 00:33:40.799 --> 00:33:50.000 And by showing us how he came to fulfill Scripture, it's a call to faith, to trust in Him, to trust in the revelation of the Scriptures. 00:33:50.160 --> 00:33:55.440 It's a call to refuse to be like the Pharisees and to come and follow Him. 00:33:57.680 --> 00:34:03.039 Second, this is not about what we must do. 00:34:03.599 --> 00:34:06.000 It's about what Jesus does. 00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:09.920 And what does it say Jesus will do? 00:34:11.280 --> 00:34:21.760 It says in verse 18, He will proclaim justice to the Gentiles, to the ethnicities of the world, to the ethnos of the world. 00:34:22.639 --> 00:34:26.639 Verse 20, until he brings justice to victory. 00:34:28.559 --> 00:34:32.159 This is about what Jesus does in fulfillment of Scripture. 00:34:32.960 --> 00:34:38.000 It would be pretty arrogant and self-centered to turn it into something about us. 00:34:39.599 --> 00:34:42.079 When it's intended to be about Jesus. 00:34:43.039 --> 00:34:50.320 Now the third reason that I don't think that this fits with our current cultural context is a very important word in verse 20. 00:34:50.639 --> 00:34:51.280 Until. 00:34:52.880 --> 00:34:53.519 Until. 00:34:57.360 --> 00:35:02.239 This is the life and the work of the Messiah. 00:35:03.199 --> 00:35:12.320 Matthew's saying, look, God promised this hundreds of years ago in Isaiah, telling us this is what the Messiah would come and do. 00:35:13.599 --> 00:35:16.000 Look at what Jesus is doing. 00:35:16.559 --> 00:35:18.480 They match, they fulfill. 00:35:18.800 --> 00:35:22.880 So the Spirit of God would come and empower Christ in unique and wonderful ways. 00:35:22.960 --> 00:35:30.559 And that empowerment, that enablement would move him to proclaim, to preach, to declare justice to the ethnicities of the world. 00:35:31.519 --> 00:35:43.280 And that work of Christ continues, even today, through the same Spirit, empowering Christ's church to continue that proclamation, that declaration of justice. 00:35:43.519 --> 00:35:57.280 So you can see then in the choice of words that Matthew gives us, this is not about working to make sure that every single person, every single people group has the same kind of justice in the sense of racial justice. 00:35:58.559 --> 00:36:03.119 This is about proclaiming a justice that has already been achieved. 00:36:09.760 --> 00:36:20.880 How can Jesus merely proclaim justice and it be brought about? 00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:29.199 No matter how you think of justice in our world today, you don't just speak something and it happens. 00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:34.639 But this is just going right along with everything that Matthew's been showing us, right? 00:36:34.800 --> 00:36:37.039 Jesus speaks and there's a new hand. 00:36:39.280 --> 00:36:43.199 Jesus proclaims justice, and it is. 00:36:45.199 --> 00:36:51.440 But notice that bringing justice to victory is not the end of Matthew's reference to Isaiah 42. 00:36:51.760 --> 00:36:58.960 The end of the reference is, and in his name, the ethos, the ethnicities of the world will hope. 00:36:59.039 --> 00:37:00.800 Now, why do I use ethnicities? 00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:06.000 I use it because it's the word that Matthew uses that is often translated Gentiles in our Bibles. 00:37:06.719 --> 00:37:12.000 He uses the word ethnos, ethnicities, the different people groups. 00:37:12.159 --> 00:37:16.159 And that made sense to a Jewish audience that Matthew was writing to. 00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:23.280 We at Faith Evangelical Free Church are not, at least primarily a Jewish audience. 00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:28.239 We are the Gentiles, we are the ethnicities of the world. 00:37:29.280 --> 00:37:35.199 But the Jews of Jesus' day were looking for a Messiah to bring justice to them. 00:37:37.039 --> 00:37:50.400 A justice that looked very much like the justice sought in the world today, a justice to rescue them from subjugation to the Romans, a justice that would bring them freedom to be their own people, a justice reserved by God for them. 00:37:50.559 --> 00:37:54.000 And you hear in this elements of Jonah. 00:37:55.440 --> 00:38:02.239 God told Jonah, I want you to go to the most pagan nation that existed on earth at the time, Nineveh. 00:38:02.800 --> 00:38:06.559 I want you to go and I want you to give them hope in my mercy. 00:38:06.800 --> 00:38:09.199 And Jonah said, Are you kidding me? 00:38:10.559 --> 00:38:13.679 Your mercy belongs to us, not to them. 00:38:18.719 --> 00:38:22.000 But that's not the justice God promised in Isaiah 42. 00:38:22.239 --> 00:38:24.559 God promised a different kind of justice. 00:38:24.719 --> 00:38:32.880 He promised a justice that would come through proclamation, through declaring, through speaking, through preaching about God's Son. 00:38:33.119 --> 00:38:39.840 And the Son Himself would proclaim the good news of justice for all people, not just the Jewish people. 00:38:40.880 --> 00:38:49.039 In fact, by seeking to destroy him, the Pharisees were rejecting God's plan of justice. 00:38:51.280 --> 00:38:53.840 They were signaling that isn't good enough. 00:38:54.639 --> 00:38:58.559 What God has planned, what God has set in place is not sufficient. 00:38:58.800 --> 00:39:06.639 And so they would begin to the process of moving to bring the hope of justice to all the ethnicities of the world. 00:39:08.320 --> 00:39:14.079 By rejecting Jesus, it's similar to God saying to Jonah, in the mouth of the whale you go. 00:39:15.599 --> 00:39:17.760 It's going to happen whether or not you like it or not. 00:39:17.840 --> 00:39:19.119 We're moving in that direction. 00:39:19.280 --> 00:39:22.239 Now, notice, notice the flow of thought in all of this. 00:39:22.559 --> 00:39:29.119 Fulfillment of Isaiah back in verse 17 is tied to keeping quiet about Jesus. 00:39:32.880 --> 00:39:35.440 Why not make him known? 00:39:36.159 --> 00:39:38.239 Why keep quiet about him? 00:39:39.679 --> 00:39:42.480 I think in the end it's really quite simple. 00:39:44.320 --> 00:39:50.880 Jesus must fulfill the purpose of the Messiah's coming. 00:39:52.639 --> 00:39:54.000 He must do that. 00:39:55.840 --> 00:39:58.719 But he has to do it in God's way, not man's way. 00:40:01.039 --> 00:40:06.239 Prophecy must be fulfilled if God is to remain true and faithful to his word. 00:40:06.480 --> 00:40:17.360 But it must be fulfilled in God's way, in God's time, by God's own kind of work, so that hope will be eventually given to all of the ethnos. 00:40:19.679 --> 00:40:24.559 And that hope that is given is justice. 00:40:25.840 --> 00:40:31.599 Not justice between human beings, but justice between man and God. 00:40:33.760 --> 00:40:35.039