For our scripture reading this morning, turn with me to Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42, we read together the first 13 verses, the text being verse 3 for this morning. Isaiah 42, beginning at verse 1 as we give our attention to the Word of God. Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight. I will put my spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness, He will bring forth justice. He will not falter or be discouraged till He establishes justice on earth. In His law, the islands will put their hope. This is what God the Lord says. He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people and life to those who walk on it. I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness. I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord. That is my name. And I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place and new things I declare. Before they spring into being, I announce them to you. Sing to the Lord a new song. His praise from the ends of the earth. You who go down to the sea and all that is in it. You islands and all who live in them. Let the desert and its towns raise their voices. Let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice. Let the people of Sela sing for joy. Let them shout from the mountaintops. Let them give glory to the Lord and proclaim His praise in the islands. The Lord will march out like a mighty man. Like a warrior, He will stir up His zeal. With a shout, He will raise the battle cry and will triumph over His enemies. Once again, verse 3, a bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out. In faithfulness, He will bring forth justice. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, as many of you know well, I'm sure, that a familiar slogan for this time of year is Jesus is the reason for the season. Many, maybe even some of you, wear those words on a little pin on your collar. Jesus is the reason for the season. And we know that in a special way this is true as we celebrate His birthday, yet we also know, don't we, that Jesus is the reason for every day, at least for the child of God. But it is true that He, His birth, is the reason that we take time out in this season of the year to celebrate. And because that's true, therefore, we must insist, then, that He be celebrated. And of course, the reason that we talk about is that Christ came as He was promised. We know from Old Testament Scripture that the Old Testament is filled with the promises of the coming Messiah. For example, Isaiah himself records many promises. He says, Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. Or those familiar words, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. As we considered a week or two ago from Micah 5, verse 2, it says, But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. Beloved, our celebration is to be about and can only be about the fact that Jesus Christ came as He was promised to do what was promised. And of course, the world tries to capitalize on the season even in their own twisted way trying to use the true reason to capitalize. Yet, at the same time, doing everything possible to cover up or wipe out the true reason with all kinds of outward things. Now, we have a whole Bible full of things we could talk about with regard to the Christ who came. Last week, you recall that we talked, that we considered that His coming was to remedy the darkness of life as Jesus Christ is the Son of Righteousness. As well, we considered that His coming was the advent of peace as He is called the Prince of Peace. Tonight, the Lord willing, we consider that His coming is the demonstration of God's love. Not just a demonstration, but the demonstration of God's love. And the text before us this morning also speaks of something amazing. And therefore, I preach to you this Word of God, the coming of Christ, to demonstrate mercy. As we consider, first of all, the need for Christ's mercy. Second, the symbols of Christ's mercy. And then finally, the reality and the fulfillment of Christ's mercy. Now what we need to understand at the outset here when we're talking about Christ's mercy, the mercy of God, we're talking about the fact that God's people do not receive that which we deserve. We do not receive that which we rightly deserve. Now in this passage, God introduces His servant. Now, in different portions of Scripture, the term servant is applied to different groups depending upon the situation. For example, the king is God's servant. The church, according to Scripture, is God's servant. All believers are servants of God, bound to Him in obedience. This passage is the first of four servant songs, as they are called, all recorded in Isaiah. And here, servant is clearly referring to the Messiah, whom we know, the Lord Jesus Christ. And our text details His mercy, which is introduced in the first couple of verses by describing the gentleness of His coming. He comes with the Spirit of God, as verse 1 says. And as verse 2 says, He will not shout or cry out or raise His voice in the streets. Now, this is interesting, I believe, because from our vantage point here in the year 2001, we know that Christ's coming, which was certain, we know that it was certain to happen, indeed it did happen, His coming brought to earth the highest, the best, the most majestic and marvelous King of kings and Lord of lords. None to be compared to Him. Yet this prophecy, over 700 years before Christ's birth, talks about His gentle, quiet, and humble coming, as well as the humble and gentle character of His ministry. Indeed, last week we considered Him as the Prince of Peace, that He came to establish peace for His people with God by declaring war upon sin. But the character of His ministry among His people is humble and gentle. You see, the coming of this king was in such contrast to earthly kings who come still today with such pomp and circumstance. They come to be seen and noticed. They want your attention. In fact, we know that if you want to get someone's attention, you've got to be more aggressive and visible and shout a little bit louder than your competition. We see that, of course, in politics today. When two men are running for president, We see that also in royalty around the earth. They come with pomp and circumstance to be seen and heard and noticed. But Christ did not come to compete with earthly authority. Why? Because all authority already belonged to Him. He didn't come demanding to be noticed as our leaders and rulers do still today. In fact, He often forbade those He healed and preached to to talk about what they had experienced. In Matthew 12, after the Pharisees began to plot how they might destroy Him, then Jesus, we are told, withdrew from the crowds with a multitude. And in verses 16 and 17 of Matthew 12, it says, Yet He warned them not to make Him known that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, and then our Lord quotes a portion of what we read, including our text. Isaiah 42, verses 1-4. The servant of the Lord congregation came to demonstrate what true leadership is all about. You see, when earthly leaders surround themselves with strength and confidence, and in many cases, earthly leaders eliminate the weak, don't they? They eliminate those who are going to bring them down, who cannot serve their agenda, who will hurt them. But yet Jesus Christ came to demonstrate mercy to the weak. He came to be a leader to the weak. And that's because there was a definite need for Christ's mercy. And really, it's the context of our passage that points to this need. We need to remember that God is speaking here through Isaiah in the context of Babylonian captivity for His people. His people were slaves. And Isaiah 40, verse 1 says, Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. They had a need for comfort. Beloved, mercy presupposes the existence of misery. Boys and girls, that means that where mercy is needed, misery is already there. It's already in place. And mercy then is eliminating that misery. It's taking that misery away. And of course, that's the situation that Israel found themselves in captivity. Miserable. A situation of misery. God's people felt forsaken and forlorn, and they were without a doubt desperate in a hopeless situation. And of course, we know from our Bible history that they found themselves in that situation more than once. In fact, often. But then God would come to them with His word of encouragement. He would promise them deliverance even though they did not deserve deliverance. But their deliverance or rescue, whether that be from captivity in Babylon or Egypt many years before Christ came, was more than just a physical deliverance. In those rescues or deliverances, God was teaching His people and pointing them to the greatest deliverance. And He was giving them a taste of true deliverance and redemption from sin. Because physical deliverance would have been absolutely meaningless if God had not revealed Himself as the eternal Redeemer of His church. And therefore, along with physical deliverance, God tied the coming of the promised Savior, God's Messiah. God's deliverance of His people always included signs of a greater truth. The blood on the doorposts at the time of the Exodus pointed to the blood of Jesus shed for our salvation. When God says, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage or slavery, that points to the deliverance of His people from the bondage of sin. As well as we search the New Testament, we find that there are passages in the New Testament which point back to some of these historical events tying them to Christ Jesus. 1 Corinthians 10 verse 4 says, For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them. And then Paul says, And that rock was Christ. And of course, that was a reference to Exodus chapter 17 where Moses draws water from the rock. And even as the Israelites needed that life-giving water, we need the water of life. Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 4. There Peter connects Noah's ark. and the saving of eight people with baptism through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And Jesus Himself speaks of His coming crucifixion by tying it to the brass serpent in the wilderness when He says in John 3, verses 14 and 15, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. Beloved, whatever miserable situation God's people found themselves in, whether it was war or pestilence or national failing or captivity, whatever it was, God always kept the hope alive for His people by reminding them of the promised Messiah. And that's because the deliverance the Messiah would bring was the foundation of and gave meaning to everything else. And Jesus Himself made that clear in Luke 4 where He quotes from Isaiah 61, verses 1 and 2, which says, the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captains and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn. Our Lord Jesus Christ quotes Isaiah 61, 1 and 2, and then He says in Luke 4, verse 20, Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all the promises spoken of Him throughout the Old Testament to a needy people. And just as the Israelites found themselves in miserable situations, we along with all of God's people, along with all of mankind, apart from Christ, are miserable because of sin. Because of our sin. Our need, beloved, is for the mercy of Christ. Our need is for His deliverance. Without His mercy, every sinner, whether Jew or Gentile, would be crushed under the weight of sin because we are not fit for the kingdom of God. Beloved, our need is simple for the mercy of Christ. You see, pity will do us no good, only mercy. Because what good does pity do? If you who pity someone, do not then take the steps to try to relieve them of whatever it is that you pity them for. But then too, our need is for more than just mercy that keeps us from being completely crushed. Our need is for mercy that restores us and repairs us. And that's what this text teaches us, that the Lord Jesus Christ, who came as the baby in Bethlehem, that He would be the merciful one for those lost in sin. And these are described here as bruised reeds or smoldering wicks. These are symbols of Christ's mercy. In other words, those toward whom He extends or gives His mercy. Now these symbols, the reed or the wick, were a part of everyday life. And therefore the significance would not have been missed by the original audience. and with these symbols of the bruised reed and the smoldering wick, which are a telling picture of our desperate need, we are taught of the wonderful pastoral care of our Savior. First of all, there were different sizes and uses of reeds. But it is agreed that the reference here is to that of a writing instrument of that time, to a pen, boys and girls. A pen. Now many of us, except for maybe the children, are still a little bit familiar, I trust, with the old quill pen that was dipped in the vial of ink and then used for writing. It's kind of on that order. But a bruised reed is talking about one that's cracked. And when it's cracked, that makes the writing instrument absolutely worthless. The only thing that you can do with it is the same thing as you would do with an old ballpoint pen that skips or runs dry, you throw it away. You trash it. A bruised reed then was broken off completely so that it could not even be attempted to be used and thrown away. And then there's the smoldering wick which is also translated as dimly burning wick. Now I think we can understand this at least in part if we think of an old antique oil lamp or maybe a camping lantern with a wick that absorbs the oil and then burns to give light. In Isaiah's day, when the wick was about to go out, it would produce more irritating smoke than light. And therefore, that wick would be completely put out, it would be thrown away and replaced with a new one. Boys and girls, again, maybe a modern day example would be a fluorescent light that keeps on flickering, telling you it's time to throw it away and replace it. Now, congregation, I believe that most often we apply these symbols of the bruised reed and the smoldering wick, we often, most often apply these symbols to weak Christians, to backsliding Christians, to Christians who are infants in the faith. As well, some would say that this is talking about Christians who are persecuted to the point of falling away, whose strength and power are bruised and who find their hope extinguished. And there are those whose spirits are beaten and bruised and sore and wounded by sorrows and difficulties. And I believe that all of these are indeed included here, but I believe it's much, much broader than this. I believe that this is talking about God's elect people in general. It's talking about each and every one of us gathered here this morning as believers. For all of God's people are included in Paul's words that there is none righteous, no, not one, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Now once again, a bruised reed and a smoldering or dimly burning wick pointed to miserable conditions which people simply would not put up with. The people in Isaiah's day would have understood that the normal thing to do would be to get rid of those worthless, valueless objects and replace them. Well, beloved, this is a picture of us in sin. We are worth absolutely nothing because of sin. Completely without value, the only thing we are worthy of is to be thrown away. Yet Christ is merciful. Now, first of all, I believe the reed and the wick are a reference to God's people because the reed is not yet completely broke and cut off and the wick is not yet extinguished. We know that those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ are cut off. They have no light of Christ to share. They will be thrown away from Him as Christ will say, Depart from Me, I never knew you. And this dealing with them will be far from gentle, even as verse 13 says, The Lord will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior. He will stir up his zeal. With a shout, He will raise the battle cry and will triumph over His enemies. But here we are told a bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out. And the force of the original language tells us that He will never ever break or extinguish these things. The condition is indeed serious, but it will not be completed. Indeed, congregation, God's elect people are bruised and dimly burning as by God's grace through the Spirit's regeneration we have broken and contrite hearts. Especially after we are saved by His grace then we have a true estimate of ourselves of our misery and of our need for Christ. We know then we cannot depend upon ourselves. We are weak, subject to times of doubting. We yield to temptation and indulge in selfishness. We know that by ourselves we have no strength like the bruised reed. And our sin testifies against us daily as well. So often there is more smoke than fire in our Christian walk. In so many ways we fall short of the glory of God and we produce about as much as a bruised reed and a dimly burning wick. On our own, beloved, we cannot serve the purpose for which God intended for us, that is, to enjoy Him and glorify Him forever. Yet, then Christ comes, and He is merciful. And we must understand this text to say that not only will He not break the bruised reed, and not only will He not completely extinguish the smoldering wick, But in contrast to this, He will do the very opposite. He came to save. John 3.17 says, For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. And Jesus also said that He came that we might have life. How? Abundantly. Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith are restored as children of His Father. And He prepares a place for each believer in the family of God, congregation. He does not throw us away as we deserve. But He repairs us. He fixes us perfectly and completely. The comfort here, beloved, is that like the bruised reed which He will not break, there is no sin so great that He cannot and will not forgive of the penitent. And like the dimly burning wick, there is no true faith so small that cannot move mountains. He will never say of one with small faith, that's not enough. You fail. You're out of here. Because faith that needs milk is just as real. And please don't ever forget this. Faith that needs milk is just as real as faith that can eat meat. And our Lord Jesus Christ, will nourish that faith just the same as stronger faith. And Satan's claws, beloved, those claws which he seeks to dig into you and me through difficult situations of life, his claws are not more powerful than the mercy of our God and Savior. Our God can rescue the worst of sinners. No one is beyond the reach of the Savior's love, blood, and healing. For the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sins. As we consider the birth of our Savior and Lord, the reality and fulfillment of Christ's mercy is ours. It belongs to us. As Israel found out in captivity, no human being, no man could or would ever be this merciful. But God is merciful. Who bears with our weaknesses and strengthens and renews us as we look to Jesus. We know that the reality of Christ's mercy was visibly demonstrated in many different ways when He walked this earth. As those who were considered worthless and were treated as worthless by others were the recipients of Christ's mercy. You may remember the woman caught in adultery whom the scribes and Pharisees took to Jesus in order to test Him. They wanted her to be stoned. But Christ could see her sorrow and repentance as well. He could read their sin-stained hearts, their guilt, their condemnation. And as the merciful one, He spoke peace to her soul. After no one could then condemn her, He said, neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. And don't forget about the publicans. Boys and girls, the publicans, also known as tax collectors. These guys were hated and despised by everyone. The Pharisees wouldn't even be in the same room with them. But Jesus was merciful. He ate with them. He called them to repentance. And He even called one of them to be one of His twelve disciples. Which one? Matthew. And I trust we're all familiar with His great act of mercy on the cross with regard to the repentance criminal. When others would avoid this guy at all costs, let's just put him to death. Let's get rid of him. Let's get him out of our hair. Jesus forgave him and said, Today, you will be with me in paradise. And beloved, we too have experienced His mercy. This text is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And we experience the reality of that fulfillment. First and foremost on the cross of Jesus. Where He suffered and died. Taking our place because of our sin. We did not get what we deserved. He took it upon Himself. And then as His people, when we have stumbled and fallen and proven over and over again that we are worthless as far as real service to Him in and of ourselves, He hears our cries of repentance, He forgives our sins, and He renews and strengthens His people for greater service. Indeed, beloved, He tenderly heals the broken and the contrite with the assurance of forgiveness. And just as the smoking wick needs to have oil and air and to have the charred edges trimmed away so that it can shine bright once again, Christ gives us the oil and breath of His Spirit and trims us through wise discipline and trials. And instead of extinguishing the flame, He fans the flame with increased faith, hope, and love. And then what is our calling? Jesus says in Luke 6, verse 36, Therefore, be merciful, just as your Father is also merciful. We are to be merciful agents of our merciful Father. This is to characterize the pastoral care of the minister over the flock, but also of each believer for his or her neighbor. We are not to extinguish even the feeblest sparks of piety in others, but we are called to kindle these sparks with all our might. Yet how is this to be done? Some say that we are to identify with others by joining them in their sin in order to gain an audience with them. After all, Paul speaks of being all things to all men. Therefore, they will never trust us if they can't see that we know what they're going through. But Jesus never did that. Sure, He ate with tax collectors and sinners, but He never compromised His holiness and His sinless life. And this is what the text is pointing to, at least in part, when it says, in faithfulness He will bring forth justice. He lived according to the truth. He demonstrated the truth. He promoted both truth and equity. He never encouraged, nor did He participate in sin of any kind. He exercised justice or governed faithfully without joining with sinners in their sin in order to win them. And we are called, beloved, to encourage, to admonish, to pray for, to build up, and to love each other in the faith, to build each other up in that way. Our Lord was dealing with bruised reeds and smoldering wicks, which is not talking about bold, arrogant, obstinate sinners in the middle of rebellion. These reeds and wicks were those who by God's grace were repentant, meek, humble sinners seeking pardon. They knew their need. They wanted help by the grace of God. And if you think about it, the harshest words of our Lord recorded in Scripture, which included the clearest condemnations, were not for the humble, but for the arrogant. Not for the repentant, but for the self-righteous. As He called them an evil and adulterous generation. He called them hypocrites. He called them a brood of vipers, nothing less than snakes in the grass. He said they would go to hell forever and they would deserve it. Beloved, Jesus Christ faithfully brought forth justice for His people. As he endured the justice of God in their place and God's people are now free forever. But those who reject him, for them there is no excuses. They will face the justice of God on their own. Those who self-righteously and arrogantly reject the Savior because they think they don't need him. because they think that there's nothing wrong with them, they will be crushed and broken and destroyed by the very Word of God. They will get what they rightly deserve. But those who turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in repentance and faith will not be broken. They will not be extinguished, but they will find mercy, and they will find complete repair, perfect healing. They will not get what they deserve. That's our blessing, beloved. That because of the mercy of our God, we do not get what we deserve, everlasting hell, but instead, the grace of God is ours as we get that which we do not deserve, even eternal life. Those who turn to Him in repentance and faith, for them, their misery will be completely removed because of Christ's greatest act of mercy taking our place as He took upon Himself our sin and misery that He might present us, His church, faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. Congregation, that's why He came. When the world considers that the reason for the season is to reward the good and the nice. So beware. Be good, be nice all year long. We know by God's grace that the true reason for the season is that Jesus came to demonstrate undeserved mercy for repentant sinners. Have you experienced the mercy of the Lord? Beloved, may we rejoice together that Jesus Christ will not put any to shame who believe on Him. In His mercy, He deals gently with those who come to Him with a broken and contrite heart. He will not send anyone away who comes to Him in true faith. Beloved, come to the Savior. Because in Him alone will you find misery relieving mercy. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, as we bow before You once again in this morning hour, may our hearts be humbled, but yet filled with joy as we consider Your mercy. The mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. That we have been necessarily reminded once again that we have not gotten what we deserve. Father, so often we think that we deserve such great things. But you have not given to us that which we truly deserve. But for the sake of Jesus Christ, you have given to us that which we do not deserve. Father, may this precious truth lead us and guide us every day of our lives that we might recognize the grace of God in our lives, that we live only from your hand of mercy and grace. And as well may it be our desire that others know this very same mercy and grace of our God unto eternity. We thank you, O Lord, for the blessing of your word. Fill us with your spirit. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.