[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. I thank your Bible if you would and go with me to Matthew chapter 12. Now if you read the chapter, Jesus is trying to make clear God in His Word, as He prints out His Word and He gives His Word, is trying to make clear He loves people.
[0:20] And you remember the Jews and the law, they were kind of like rough on people. They were like always adding burdens to people. And He ended the last chapter saying, come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden.
[0:31] And then He got into a story where He talks to them about is the Sabbath for you or is it for God? Is it supposed to be a burden or is it supposed to be a blessing? And then He said, you guys, Jewish people, you leaders, care more about animals than you care about people.
[0:47] Because if your lamb were to fall in a pit on a Sunday or on a Sabbath day, Saturday, if it were to fall in a pit on a Sabbath day, then you would rescue him. But here's a man in the service, the next part, who's got a withered hand and you wouldn't help him.
[1:01] And so He's trying to get across something. I love people. Jesus loves hurting people. That ought to be a promise for every one of you. Could I get you to repeat that with me?
[1:12] I want you to take that home with you. Say that with me. Jesus loves hurting people. Could you say it with me? Jesus loves hurting people. Now read with me if you would. Read with me if you would.
[1:22] Matthew chapter 12 and verse 15. And let's go through the story and let's learn how we see Him loving us. The first thing is going to be that He doesn't want any publicity.
[1:34] He is not trying to make a name for Himself. He already has a name. He is Jesus, the Son of God. He is not trying to make a name for Him here on earth at that time.
[1:45] He is simply fulfilling the Father's will for His life. And so in Matthew chapter 12 and verse 15, the Bible says, But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew Himself from thence, and great multitudes followed Him.
[1:57] And He healed them all and charged them that they should not make Him known. So there's a big lesson here. Jesus, unlike modern religious leaders, was not trying to get public opinion.
[2:12] He was not trying to get a crowd to follow Him. He was simply trying to do God's will in His life. You've got to remember, in Matthew chapter 12 and verse 14, the crowds wanted to destroy Him.
[2:24] The religious crowd is the one that wanted to destroy Him. Look at Matthew 12, 14, right there in the passage where we're reading. The Bible says, Then the Pharisees went out and they held a council against Him how they might destroy Him.
[2:37] How they might destroy Him. And so He, in verse 15, withdraws Himself. He pulls away where they can't get to Him. The religious crowd goes so far as to accuse Jesus of working miracles by the power of Satan.
[2:51] But Jesus did not confuse recklessness with courage. And that's an important thing because we have missionaries all over the world. And our church is a missionary church.
[3:03] And we have people right now this morning in China serving God. We have people in our church right now this morning in northern Africa serving God. We have people in Burkina Faso in a place that could be dangerous.
[3:16] In South Africa, with all the aids that could be dangerous, Jesus doesn't confuse recklessness with courage. He was not ready to bring His ministry to its climax yet.
[3:27] He knew God had a timetable and He was working on God's timetable. He was doing what God had planned for His life. And you'll see that just in a minute in the Bible.
[3:38] Most people want to try to get publicity. They won't. We won't. All the attention we can get. I have fallen into this trap many times. If we could just build my name.
[3:49] If we could just build the church. If we could just get a bigger crowd. Whatever we need to do. Jesus is saying, hey guys, I'm healing you. I'm healing everybody. Did you see what He said in verse 15?
[3:59] He healed them all. He healed them all. I mean, can you imagine? He didn't heal one. He didn't have one great success. He healed everybody. And then He said, don't go tell anybody. He wasn't looking for a platform.
[4:12] He knew that He had come to sacrifice Himself, not show His great power. Now there's two comings of Jesus. Can you look at this way and listen in a minute? There are two comings of Jesus. One, He'll come as a reigning King.
[4:24] One, He'll come and He will bring peace on the earth. One, He'll come and He'll set up an earthly kingdom. That's His second coming. But in this coming, He came as a suffering servant. When Jesus came in Bethlehem, He came knowing, I am here to die.
[4:40] I am here to offer my life as a sacrifice. And every other story you're reading is Jesus is on His way to Calvary. Nobody else may be understanding that as they are living with Him.
[4:51] They may not be catching that as it's going on. But Jesus is on His way to Calvary. He doesn't withdraw out of weakness. He doesn't withdraw out of weakness.
[5:02] Can I remind you in the verse, they want to kill Him. They want to destroy Him. And He withdraws. But it's not because He's afraid. It's not because He's weak. Because He is all-powerful.
[5:14] Do you remember what the Bible says in John chapter 18 and verse 6? That Jesus is in the garden. They come to get Him. They bring a band of soldiers with Him. They're going to capture Him.
[5:25] And He is so powerful. The Bible says in John 18, 6, He said, they said, we're looking for Jesus. He said, I am He. And when they heard Him say it, look what it says in the Bible. They went backward and fell to the ground.
[5:38] Just saying who He was was power enough to prove Jesus could have done anything He wanted to, anytime He wanted to because He was and is God in human flesh.
[5:50] The Bible says in Matthew chapter 26 and verse 52, you know, old Peter's going to pull a sword. He's going to chop old Malchus. He's going to cut his ear off. He's not really trying to get to Malchus' ear.
[6:00] When he comes out, he's just a fisherman. And he ain't that good with a sword. And old Malchus moves his head. He slices his ear off. He's trying to cut the guy's head in half, you know. And Jesus says, hey, don't you guys know that I could call more than 12,000, 12 legions of angels?
[6:17] But if I did that, look at verse 54, Matthew 26, 54. But if I did that, how would the Scriptures come true? If I did that, how would the Scriptures come true?
[6:29] I came to die. I came to save you. But John had said in John 1, 29, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Did you know while Jesus is in Bethlehem, while he's even in a manger, the shadow of the cross is there.
[6:44] He knows he's going to die. God knows he's going to die. And he has raised all of his life on earth knowing this. I came to die to save lost people. Jesus could have done whatever he wanted.
[6:56] But he had come to do the will of the Father. He had come to seek and save lost people. He had come to give his life a ransom for us.
[7:07] He came to die in our place. Can you say amen right there? Do you understand that when Jesus came, he was not killed by the religious people? The Jews didn't kill him.
[7:18] The Romans didn't kill him. He came to give his life. He said in John chapter 10, No man takes my life from me. I lay it down. He died because he wanted to.
[7:30] He died because he loved you. He died because somebody had to die for your sin. And he died for you. But in this publicity part right here, where we're looking at him not giving publicity, there's a cycle of ministry that we notice about Jesus.
[7:43] And it'd do well for our missionaries that might listen or our missionaries that are here. It'd do well to look at it. In the cycle of ministry that Jesus had, he goes to a particular place. And he preaches and he teaches and he heals.
[7:54] Some accept and others reject. Mostly the religious crowd. And when everything got hotter, he just withdrew himself. Not because he had to. Not because he was afraid. I'm sure you remember the story of Jacob Talby and John Walls.
[8:08] And they're in Harbin, China. And they're preaching the gospel. And churches are being started. Four churches are started. Three guys are full-time pastors. Five other guys are in the process of being trained.
[8:21] And all of a sudden, everything gets stirred up. And they get arrested. And on Easter Sunday, police flood. Every one of their churches. And take them to jail. And within ten days, they had to leave the country.
[8:32] It looks like, boy, what a failure. But can I remind you that when it got hot, Jesus, what's the word? He did what? He withdrew himself. And so he left that country.
[8:43] Moved on to the next country. And this morning, Jacob Talby. And John's almost there. He's suffering for Jesus as he makes his way to Taiwan. He's in Hawaii preaching today. Amen. But some things, you just have to take one for the ministry every now and then.
[8:57] And so, but he's on his way to Taiwan. He's in Hawaii. But Jake's already in Taiwan this morning. And that's exactly the pattern in the Bible. So we know we don't have to feel like, man, our missionary has failed.
[9:08] Our missionary has messed up. We understand it happened with Jesus. Can you say amen? So we're not about a publicity ministry. We're about obeying our Father. Those that work in closed or creative access countries might need to move to another place when things get hot enough.
[9:23] That's not fear. That's not failure. When you move on to preach another day. Second thing I want you to look at in verse 17. You're in Matthew chapter 12. So he was avoiding the publicity.
[9:34] Because if everybody had come and tried to make him king. If everybody had come and tried to put him in a place that he wasn't ready to be placed in. That wouldn't have fulfilled the Father's plan. The Father's plan is that he die on a cross.
[9:46] He came as a suffering servant. You might ought to write that in the margin of your Bible. He came as a suffering servant. He came to die. He came to pay our sin debt.
[9:57] He came that we could be saved. The cross wasn't an accident. The cross wasn't like plan B. The cross was plan A. Could you say amen right there?
[10:08] The cross was plan A. It's not like you might see at Easter where they grab him and they haul him off and poor old Jesus is like, I thought I was going to be king and now I'm going to be crucified. That's not it at all.
[10:18] He came to die. The second thing I want you to see is prophecy was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. Look if you would in Matthew chapter 12 and verse 17.
[10:29] That it might be fulfilled. You know why he withdrew himself? You know why he didn't want anybody to talk about what he was doing? It tells us right here in the passage. Verse 17. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet.
[10:43] That it might be fulfilled what was said by Isaiah the prophet. Behold my servant. Behold my servant whom I have chosen. My beloved and whom my soul is well pleased.
[10:54] Will I put my spirit upon him and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. Now you got your Bible open. I want to ask you to mark some things. You got your Bible open there to Matthew chapter 12.
[11:05] Would you mark some things in verse 17? Look what it says here. My servant. Circle that. Jesus. God. In human flesh. God. Equal to God.
[11:15] You understand that God the Father. God the Son. And God the Holy Spirit are three distinct persons. They're three distinct persons. They're not the same. But they're equal.
[11:26] So there are three people. God the Father. God the Son. And God the Holy Spirit. It's not just three manifestations. There are three. God the Father. God the Son. And God the Holy Spirit. They're equal. But they're not the same person.
[11:37] They are the equal. but they are not the same person. And when he comes to earth, he humbles himself and he serves God. Now, why in the world would I find it hard to realize I'm supposed to serve God when God would serve God?
[11:51] Say amen. Why would I find it hard to humble myself when I realize that God himself was my servant? Isaiah wrote about him and said, my servant. Look at this in verse 17.
[12:02] Whom I have chosen. Put a circle around the word chosen. In Matthew, he's going to be called the elect. Same thing. God chose him. He's the elect. He's the picked one. He's a picked one.
[12:13] Circle this. My beloved. God loved Jesus. My beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. When he got baptized on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus, my servant, my chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased.
[12:30] Verse 18. I will put my spirit on him. Now, I'm going to work this through with you in just a second, kind of a little more organized. Would you notice here? You just got a trinity. Come on.
[12:42] Talk to me. You got the father doing the talking. You got Jesus being my servant, my beloved, and God's putting his spirit on him. That's God the father. Say amen. God the son. And God the Holy Spirit. Somebody might tell you, well, the Bible doesn't talk about a trinity.
[12:54] Well, there's three of them right here. Three people in one verse. Same person. God. But three distinct people. And then he said he will show judgment to the Gentiles.
[13:05] He'll show righteousness to the Gentiles. Jesus lived to do the work his father had sent him to do. He's on earth. He had no limit.
[13:17] You understand Jesus has always been. He had no beginning. He has no end. He is. Now, Jesus had a beginning in the name Jesus. But the person who carries the name Jesus is the same person.
[13:32] Jesus, the Christ. What's it say in John 1.1? You might write that in the margin here. In the beginning was the? And the word was with God. And the word was God. Jesus was in the beginning. Jesus.
[13:43] Now, not in his body as Jesus. Not as he is known as a human. But he's called the pre-incarnate Christ. He's the Messiah before he gets into the human body. He is.
[13:54] Jesus is God. And he came to do the will of his father. He that had no limits limited himself. He that had no beginning and no end limited himself to live a human life and to feel like we feel.
[14:05] And in John 4.34, he said, Jesus said unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. Look, I hope you mark that verse.
[14:18] Okay? Now listen to me. Some of you somewhere along the way got this idea that God's kind of a bad guy. And he's the one that's angry. But thank God that Jesus is the nice guy.
[14:30] And he could go and talk to the bad guy. And get the bad guy to like you. And you kind of got that Catholic type thing. Like I go to Mary and I say, Mary, I know Jesus probably won't talk to me. But I'd like to talk to you.
[14:40] So you could talk to Jesus. So Jesus could talk to the Father. And so the Father would quit being mad at me. And sometimes you got that feeling in your mind. But would you look at the verse he said? Would you look at the verse I just read to you?
[14:51] When he came, he came to do the will of him. So when Jesus came on the earth and he went to the cross to die, it wasn't Jesus saying, I'm going to die. So God would quit being mad.
[15:02] It was Jesus saying it and God saying it. Amen? God the Father loves you. God the Father loves you. God the Father paid the price. And by the way, look at what the last part of the verse says.
[15:14] To finish his work. And by the way, when Jesus gets finished on the cross, he will say it is finished. He's going to say that. And so do you understand that when Jesus died on the cross, he was doing the work of the Father.
[15:26] And he was finishing the work of the Father. You say, why do you say that? Because I think sometimes you think God's not a nice guy. I think you think of God the Father as kind of a mean old guy with long hair and a lightning bolt in his hand, just waiting to throw one at you.
[15:39] And you just praise God Jesus is such a nice guy. Not at all true. God's wonderful. God the Father is wonderful. God the Father is wonderful. Jesus is wonderful.
[15:50] The Holy Spirit is wonderful. He loves hurting people. Jesus was his servant. Go with me, if you would, to Philippians chapter 2 and verse 5. He loved his servant.
[16:01] Jesus was his servant. He submitted to God the Father in everything. He was God in human flesh, and yet he humbled himself. This is like my favorite passage of Scripture.
[16:12] If I were talking to a new missionary who's having a problem dealing with stuff, and he feels like people are not treating him well. If I were talking to you as a Sunday school teacher, and you were having a problem saying, I don't think people appreciate me. And I have that problem a lot of times because the devil and me, we get this stupid conversation going where I kind of act like I'm really important.
[16:28] But this is the verse I would take you to look at Philippians chapter 2 and verse 5. It says, Let this mind, this way of thinking, be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
[16:42] He was God. He never even thought, I'm not making this up. I'm not bragging. I'm not overstating the fact. I'm in the form of God, and that ain't saying anything. I'm in the form of God.
[16:53] And then he said, But he made himself, look at verse 7, underline it. He made himself of what? Talk to me. He made himself of? No reputation. In other words, when you're God, you've got a lot of reputation.
[17:05] When you're a human, well, there's 7 billion of us. And the most well-known of us is not very well-known. No reputation. He became like one of us. He made himself of no reputation.
[17:17] Then he didn't just do that. Then he took on himself the form of a servant. I mean, he didn't come as a king. He didn't come so he could be the president of the United States, the queen of England. He didn't come so he could be the president of a great country.
[17:30] He came not as a king, not as somebody to be recognized, but as a servant. And he was even made in the likeness of men. Look at that in verse 7. Understand what that means.
[17:42] It's like saying the potter became a piece of clay. The potter who makes clay into pottery things became a piece of clay, a piece of clay that he could mold.
[17:57] And not only that, he became one that didn't get a real good reputation. Maybe a piece of clay that was made for bathroom use. No reputation. He's one of his own creation, and he went below that.
[18:09] Low as he could get. Got himself all the way down because he came to save us. And then he was obedient. But he wasn't just obedient. He was obedient to death.
[18:20] He was obedient to death. In verse 8, he humbled himself. He became obedient to death. What kind of death? The death of the cross. Jesus. Isaiah said, hey, the guy's coming.
[18:32] The Messiah is coming. And Jesus, or God calls him, my servant. And he's coming. He's coming, my servant. And by the way, Jesus was a servant. He was a servant of God, but he was also a servant of people.
[18:44] He was also a servant of people. All the people got healed in verse 15. Do you remember? He comes into town. He's now limited by a human body. By one of the frail bodies he made, he's limited by that.
[18:55] But he demonstrated that love and compassion. He revealed the heart of a loving God. By the way, he would go out of his way to the hurting, the burdened, and the persecuted. In the story, the Pharisees are going to bring a guy with a messed up hand to use him.
[19:11] He's just an object lesson. Just a way to kind of trap Jesus. And Jesus is like, you're not trapping me. I care about people. I'm going to heal the guy, no matter what you do to me. That's how he was. In Matthew chapter 9 and verse 36, he saw the multitudes.
[19:24] He saw the crowds. And he was moved to compassion. In Matthew chapter 11 and verse 28, he said, Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest.
[19:34] Whatever's going wrong in your life, whatever message you got, however much religion's been piled on top of you, you come to me, and I will give you rest. Whatever load you're carrying this morning, whatever burden you came in here with, you walked in this morning and you were thinking about your financial burden, you walked in and you were thinking about your physical burdens, you walked in and you were thinking about family issues that you're dealing with, and you walked in here and you're hurting.
[19:57] He understands that. He understands that. He's the God who cares. And he said, Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden. But in 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 7, he said, Casting all your care on him because he cares for you.
[20:11] The God of heaven loves you. Could you say amen if you think that's true? He loves you. Bring your burdens to him. Now in Isaiah chapter 42, Matthew's going to quote scripture.
[20:25] Could I just say this before I go on? Do you realize this? The great apostle? Or this one's not. Yes, he is. This one is. The great apostle and all the other Bible writers, they like to use Bible.
[20:36] I really don't like churches where they just get up and talk. I want somebody to get out the Bible. I want somebody to read the Bible. And so here's Matthew. And Matthew says, By the way, what I'm saying to you about Jesus, it comes straight out of the Bible.
[20:47] Isaiah chapter 42 and verse 1. Behold my servant whom I uphold. Mine elect and my soul delighteth in whom my soul delighteth.
[20:57] I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break.
[21:09] And a smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment to truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth.
[21:19] And the isles shall wait for his law. He was not his servant only, but he was his chosen, his elect, his beloved. God was pleased with Jesus and everything about him.
[21:36] Jesus is no sub-God. He is no step below God. He's no Jehovah's Witness God. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God.
[21:46] And the Word was a God. No, no, no. The Word was God. Can you say amen right there? You need to know that. Jesus is God. God is pleased with him. God has sent his Messiah, his anointed one.
[21:57] He has put his spirit on him. And there you saw the Trinity. Israel said he's going to minister to Gentiles. Now that's really heading towards the climax of this message. You understand that we had no access.
[22:10] We have had, I don't think any of them are here today, but we've had two Jews that were part of our church. They were born physically Jews. And if they had been born, one of them was a lady. Sorry, you're not getting in.
[22:21] The other one was a guy. Well, he wasn't getting in. He'd get a step closer than the lady would have gotten, but he wouldn't have gotten in because he was just a regular person. But now in this passage, God's going to say, I've come to work with Gentiles.
[22:34] I've come to bring the Word to Gentiles. As you read prophecy being fulfilled in a person, you can know something. The Word of God is true. When you read the Bible, it's true.
[22:47] Hang on. I don't care what science has to say. I don't care if they want to doubt stuff. They will find out eventually that God's Word is true.
[22:57] God's Word is true. By the way, you're actually living out prophecy and the will of God this morning by being in God's church and carrying out His commission.
[23:08] You are a part of prophecy being fulfilled today. Go with me if you would to Matthew 12 and verse 18. Matthew 12 and verse 18. This is the same passage of Scripture again.
[23:21] I'm not going to read it to you again. It's the same thing out of Isaiah. I've already read it to you twice this morning. But my servant and my beloved, whose Spirit is on him, will show judgment. He won't cry. He won't judge.
[23:33] He won't strive. Neither will any man hear his voice in the street. He shows judgment to the Gentiles. Now look just, wait just a second. This is like mind-boggling stuff.
[23:44] You're coming to the end of the age of Israel and you're starting into the age of the church in the Bible. If you study the age of your Bible, the Old Testament from the time of Abraham until we get to the New Testament, even to John the Baptist, is the age of Israel.
[24:00] But now God's got this parenthesis going in history where He set Israel to the side for a while. He's going to bring Israel back and Israel will do great things and be greatly used to God as soon as He gets through with us.
[24:11] But He's brought us into this parenthesis. And so He is the Redeemer of the whole world. He is the Redeemer of the whole world, not just Israel. Israel was only a channel God used to get His Word and His grace and His Gospel to the world.
[24:27] In Genesis 12, 3, when God gives the promise to Abraham, the father of the Jews, He said, I will bless them that bless thee, curse them that curse thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
[24:37] Watch this. It never should be a surprise to you that He wants everybody saved. It never should be a surprise to you that He wants all people to hear the Gospel. By the way, even while Jesus was alive on the planet, He was busy doing things, even with Gentiles.
[24:53] The first lady who ever heard that He was the Messiah was a Gentile lady. And that's found in John chapter 4 and verse 25. The woman at the well said to Him, I know the Messiah is coming, which is called the Christ, and He's going to tell us all things.
[25:09] And Jesus said in verse 26, Well, the guy talking to you, I am He. I am the Messiah. Jesus revealed to a Gentile woman. Do you understand how bad that is in the Jewish mind?
[25:21] I mean, Jewish mind, men, women, Gentile dogs, Gentile dogs, wives. And God said, I'm going to tell a Gentile lady who I am.
[25:32] By the way, in Matthew chapter 8 and verse 8, a Roman centurion, a Gentile, comes to Jesus, and He says, Hey, I'm a man under authority, and I can tell a guy to go, I can tell a guy to come.
[25:43] I know that. You don't have to go to my house. If you're to speak the word, my servant will be healed. And Jesus said, in verse 10, He marveled and said, I have not found so great faith not in Israel.
[25:54] And the Jews were having a major problem. They didn't want anybody knowing. All they knew, they were against everybody knowing the truth.
[26:05] And in Acts chapter 22 and verse 21, Paul's telling them that God is sending him to the Gentiles, and they say, Away with such a fellow from the earth. It's not fit that he should live.
[26:16] And they ripped off their clothes and threw dirt in the air and screamed out. That's what happened. That's what happened. They didn't want people to hear the gospel. I'm going to stop and just say something.
[26:27] Are you ready for me to kind of shake up your world? Sometimes you get that way about Muslims. You start acting like a Jew. Like there's certain people you like, and you like to see them saved.
[26:38] There's certain people you don't like, and you don't want to see them saved. Christianity was pretty big on taking care of white folks, and letting slaves not be taken care of. Now we're kind of like we don't like Muslims, or there's somebody else that we don't like. Or when I was a kid, we didn't like Japanese people.
[26:50] You know that's the wrong attitude. Can you say amen right there? Say oh me. Can't say amen. Say oh me. It's the truth. We are supposed to do like our Father, and love everybody, and want them all to be saved, and get the gospel to them.
[27:03] By the way, Jesus was kind in his delivery of the gospel. Look at Matthew chapter 12 and verse 19, if you would. Look at Matthew chapter 12 and verse 19. He shall not strive, nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice.
[27:19] He will only use truth to bring men to him. He was gentle, and meek, and humble. No physical force, no emotional manipulation, no political power.
[27:31] He didn't come to argue religion. He came to conquer with love, not law. Words, but not arguments.
[27:42] And he came to help hurting, helpless people. Look at Matthew chapter 12 and verse 20. A bruised reed shall he not break, and a smoking flax shall he not quench.
[27:56] And so he gives them an object lesson. And he says, he says in the passage, he said a bruised reed, or a broken reed, it's worthless. Because what they would do is, they'd go get this reed, and they could make a flute out of it.
[28:09] But if it was broken, you couldn't make music with it anymore. And so it was worthless. Throw it in the garbage. Or if it was a wick, and it was burned up and used up, and all it would do was smoke.
[28:20] Throw it away. But look what Jesus is going to do. By Isaiah's prophecy, and the ministry of what he says right here. He says, he says the flax was a wick that was now useless. It could not make it anymore.
[28:32] But it says, a bruised reed, he won't break. And smoking flax, he won't quench. Till he sent forth judgment. Everyone else ignored people that could be represented by these object lessons.
[28:46] See, the Jews were out to go get the rich guy. When Lazarus dies and goes to heaven in the story, at Abraham's bosom, and the rich man died and woke up in hell, that shocked every Jew to hear Jesus talk like that.
[28:58] Because God tends to like rich people. That's what they thought. God tend to go with them that were healthy and whole, and everything was good. But really, the Bible says, no, he came to save those that were hurting.
[29:11] People that no longer make music or give light. People that are suffering and helpless and alone. If you're talking about the survival of the fittest, they will not survive. Instead of trashing these items, he will restore these items and use these items.
[29:28] This morning, you came, and the music is out of your life. This morning, you came, and you can't make any more light. It's like you're burnt out and nowhere else you can go. And you're like, will God love me?
[29:41] The story is, yes, yes, He loves you. I can't make melody anymore. The reed is broken. It can't be turned into a flute. And the wick is going out.
[29:52] Will He help me? He gives music back to the reed and light back to the wick. And by the way, as a church, we should be like the Lord and learn to love people and treat them right.
[30:04] We should learn to love people and treat them right. Can I just get your attention just a second? We're almost through. And I think we have been so far, but we can never quit being this. It doesn't matter who walks in that door. I don't care how many tattoos they have.
[30:17] I don't care if they smell like they've been smoking all their life. I don't care what their past has been. It matters not. Jesus loves hurting people.
[30:28] You say, they've messed up. Jesus loves hurting people. A broken reed, He won't throw it away. A burning flax, He won't get rid of it.
[30:39] Can I just say this? Be like Jesus. We're not arguing Christians. And some Christians are arguers. I mean, you like to take to Facebook so you can see who you can fight with.
[30:50] Strive! Yell! Cause a stink! See if you can't get people fighting with you. Jesus didn't strive and didn't yell. That's what it said. Don't see people as throwaways.
[31:02] Realize you're part of His great plan. He gave the gospel to us and we're to see to it that people hear the gospel. We're to send preachers. We are His plan of world evangelism.
[31:15] Last verse. Last verse. Look if you would with me at Matthew chapter 12 and verse 21. And in His name shall the Gentiles trust. That's a little bitty verse but you should star it, put an exclamation point and an arrow pointing at it because we're Gentiles.
[31:31] There was no hope for us. There should have been. The Jews should have been taking the gospel. Jonah did go to Nineveh and on occasion some of our people got saved. But Jesus came and said, what's this?
[31:42] I'm changing all the rules. I'm taking. There weren't rules before but the people had made rules. He said, I'm taking the gospel to the Gentiles. The gospel was for the world. Jews and Israel, they're going to reject Christ.
[31:54] The Gentile church will become God's instrument for getting the gospel to the world. Now listen to what I'm telling you. The Jews are over here and they've stopped. They have no longer understand what their job is. They become selfish, self-centered, thinking about themselves, people at this time.
[32:09] And so they're putting burdens on people and they're hurting people. And Jesus came and he said, I'm going to put you on hold. He didn't throw them away because he doesn't throw away the broken reed. He doesn't throw them away. He just puts them on hold and he says, watch this.
[32:20] I'll take some Gentiles and I'll use them to get the gospel. In fact, while I'm using them to get the gospel, you Jews are going to get jealous and say, we won't back in the game. And so we're going to get raptured out of here and he's going to bring those Jews back and they're going to do better than we ever did.
[32:34] They're going to do more world evangelism than we ever did. But in his name shall the Gentiles trust. The ministry of reconciliation has now been given to us. The church is made up of saved Jews and Gentiles.
[32:47] In one sense, there are three groups of people on the earth right now. Jews, Gentiles, and the church. The church is both. It's not like the church isn't for Jews. The church isn't for anybody that's good.
[32:59] The church is for sinners. And when you're a sinner, whether you're a Jew or whether you're a Gentile, you become part of Jesus and you come into him. In that sense, there's three groups. In the other sense, there's two groups.
[33:11] Jew or Gentile. If you don't know Jesus, you're lost and on your way to hell. And Jesus saves anybody who will come and trust him. The Great Commission was given to the church.
[33:21] You know the Great Commission, but Jesus said in verse 18, all power, all authority is given to me. I can say anything I want to say. Matthew 28, 18. In verse 19, he's going to say, go teach all nations.
[33:35] Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost and teach them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. And lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the world. All through the Bible, he's going to be saying, I want the world to know.
[33:46] If Jesus loves hurting people, shouldn't they know that in Africa? If Jesus loves hurting people, shouldn't they know that in China, in Indonesia, in India? Shouldn't they know that in every country on the world?
[33:58] Yes, they should. And what did he tell us to do? Make sure it happens. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 34. The most carnal church that receives a letter from Paul, the church that has all kind of junk going on in it, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, 34, Awake to righteousness and sin not.
[34:16] For some have not the knowledge of God. Shame on you. He wasn't writing to the Philippian church. He wasn't writing to the Philippian church.
[34:26] He wasn't writing to the Roman church. He was writing to the church where a man's sleeping with his daddy's wife. He's writing to the church where they're all going to court and fighting each other. He's writing to the church where they're all picking on each other about you eat the wrong foods and you drink the wrong drinks and everybody's fighting and fussing.
[34:39] And even that carnal church, he said, I want the world to hear the gospel. Let's get it straight. We're supposed to take the gospel to the world so everybody can know. By the way, he died for your sins.
[34:50] In Hebrews 2.9, the Bible says that God, that by the grace of God, Jesus would taste death for every man. If you're here this morning, he loves you. If you're a Jew, if you're a Gentile, if you're a broken reed, your life is giving up all music and all melody.
[35:07] If the light's going out in your life, he loves you and he wants you to be saved. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 2, Paul wrote and said, I have heard thee in a time accepted in the day of salvation.
[35:21] Have I secured thee? Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. God loves you. He died on a cross. He paid your sin debt.
[35:32] You can be saved. Everything is done. It's finished. Not waiting on you to do anything more than believe him. Not waiting on you to do anything more than trust him. He is a wonderful God. You came hurting this morning.
[35:43] You said, I don't know where I turned. I don't know what to do. It's because there's so much junk going on in my life. He loves you. He understands you. He says, come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden. He said, casting all your care on him because he cares for you.
[35:58] If you're not saved, you're not born again, today's your day. It's the accepted time. It's the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. Don't count on tomorrow. You have no idea if you'll get it tomorrow. You don't know how you'll feel tomorrow, but if he's dealing with you today, today's the day to trust him.
[36:13] And for you Christians, born again people, man, we got to get busy. We serve a wonderful God and we know what his Bible says. Let's take it to the world. Can I get an amen right there?
[36:23] Let's become more of a missionary church than we've ever been before. Let's do more to get the gospel. Let's raise up more missionaries. Let's train more missionaries. Let's love more people. By the way, as everybody around you, you know, you're at work and there's this person and you're like, I don't even like this guy.
[36:38] He's so despicable. God would never think that. He would not think that. He would think, I love broken reeds and worn out flax.
[36:51] I love those that no one else would love and I can change their life. You could have a part in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ to the most hurting person around you. Here's the truth for you.
[37:03] Jesus loves hurting people. Can I get you to repeat that with me if you would? Jesus loves hurting people. So would you get busy about carrying the gospel?
[37:14] If you're here this morning and you've never been born again, would you, would you this morning allow us to show you from the word of God how you could be saved, born again, and know you go to heaven? No pressure. Not want you to join the church.
[37:26] We want you to join church. I don't mean it that way, but no pressure to join the church, no pressure to be baptized, no pressure to do anything. But hear the truth from somebody who can sit down and answer your questions. If you'd let us help you, I'd love to.
[37:37] Father in heaven, I love you and I praise you for the opportunity to preach your word and I pray that your name would be glorified today and I pray you'd show your great power and I will honor you for whatever you do today.
[37:48] We love you and thank you. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.
[38:04] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.