Sermon Tone Analysis

How Well Do You Know the Lord Jesus Christ?

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 12:14-21

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared April 2, 2022)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to Matthew 12. Remember that by this point, Jesus was in the second year of His earthly ministry.

And in this chapter we see the terrible hatred that had poisoned the minds of the Christ-rejecting Pharisees.

They started stalking Jesus, looking for any opportunity to accuse Him of doing wrong.

(1)

*In vs. 9-14, Jesus went into the nearby synagogue.

A man with a withered hand was also there, and the Pharisees spitefully asked Jesus, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?''

They were trying to find a way to accuse the Lord of breaking God's Law.

But Jesus wisely replied, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?

Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?

Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.''

*"Then He said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.'

And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.

Then the Pharisees went out and took counsel against Him, how they might destroy Him."

*Luke 6:11 tells us that the Pharisees were filled with rage to the point of madness that day.

Mark 3:6 says they "went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him."

*This was an astounding move by the Pharisees because normally, they were bitter enemies of the Herodians.

You see, the Herodians were polar opposites to the strict Jewish Pharisees.

To begin with, the four Herods who ruled weren't Jews, but natives of nearby Idumea.

They were appointed by the Roman Empire.

The first is known as "Herod the Great," and though he expanded the Temple in Jerusalem, he was a vicious monster of a tyrant who had zero interest in keeping God's Law.

This is the Herod who tried to kill young Jesus by murdering all the infant boys in Bethlehem.

The Herods were basically as godless as they could be, and the Herodians were simply the people who supported them.

(2)

*It's amazing that the Pharisees would partner with the Herodians.

But the thing that brought them together was their utter rejection of Jesus Christ.

And before the end of this chapter, those Pharisees would commit the only unpardonable sin.

They were trying to destroy Jesus, but only wound up destroying themselves.

*All the while, Jesus went about doing miraculous good works and proving Himself in undeniable ways to anyone who was open to the truth.

Now God wants us to be open to the truth.

And if we are, today's Scripture will help get to us know Jesus better.

Please think about this as we read Matthew 12:14-21.

MESSAGE:

*How well you know the Lord Jesus Christ.

You may not know Him at all in a personal way, but many of us do, and everybody needs to know Jesus better.

*I can't imagine anybody ever knowing our Savior better than the Apostle Paul.

But remember what Paul wrote in Philippians 3:8-10.

After many years of knowing Jesus Paul said, "I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death."

*Paul wanted to know Jesus better than ever before, and Christians, so should we!

The original word for "know" there was not just talking about knowing facts and information.

It meant knowing the Lord in a close, personal way.

And nothing is more important than knowing Jesus Christ!

1. FIRST IN THIS SCRIPTURE, WE NEED TO KNOW THAT JESUS IS THE GREAT PHYSICIAN.

*Jesus miraculously healed many thousands of people during His time here on earth.

After the Pharisees went out to plot the Lord's death, vs. 15 tells us that "when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there; and great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.

*Mark 3:7-12 gives more detail and says:

7. . .

Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea.

And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea

8. and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him.

9.

And He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him.

10.

For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him.

11.

And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, "You are the Son of God.''

12.

But He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.

*Jesus Christ is the Great Physician.

Here's what Peter said, when he was preaching about Jesus in Acts 10:36-38:

36.

"The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all)

37. that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached:

38.

how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him."

*Jesus went around "doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil."

And we praise the Lord for miraculous healing, but we also thank God for our health-care professionals.

They too are a gift from God, and they help people every day.

But ultimately, all physical healing comes from God.

*Jesus is our physical healer, and our emotional healer.

In Isaiah 61:1 the coming Christ says, "He (God the Father) has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted."

Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted, and nobody can heal a broken heart like Jesus Christ!

*He is our physical healer, emotional healer, and our spiritual healer. 1 Peter 2:24 talks about those who have been spiritually healed by trusting in Christ.

There Peter wrote that Jesus "Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed."

*This spiritual healing includes everlasting life in Heaven for all who trust in the Lord.

All medical healing is temporary.

But when we put our trust in the cross of Jesus Christ, when we believe in Him, when we receive Him as our Lord and Savior, we get the healing that lasts forever!

*I have been thinking about my dad today.

He died of lung cancer and heart failure almost 47 years ago.

Dad was only 55 when he died.

We prayed for a physical healing that did not come.

But my dad certainly had the healing of everlasting life in Heaven with God!

*Dad had been a member of the Presbyterian Church for many years.

He had also served as a deacon and Sunday School teacher.

And Dad had been very Christlike in the way he treated other people.

But a few days before he died, I wanted to be absolutely sure that my father had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

So, I asked him about it.

And I don't remember exactly what I said, but I remember him standing in the door of his hospital room, telling me: "Son, you don't have to worry about me.

I gave my heart to Jesus Christ a long time ago."

*Hallelujah!

That's why my earthly father is with my Heavenly Father today.

And everybody needs to know that Jesus Christ is the Great Physician.

2. WE ALSO NEED TO KNOW THAT JESUS IS THE PROMISED MESSIAH.

*As the Lord healed those great multitudes, vs. 16 tells us that "He warned them not to make Him known.

And in vs. 17-21, the Holy Spirit led Matthew to explain that Jesus gave this warning:

17. that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

18. "Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen, my Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased; I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will declare justice to the Gentiles.

19.

He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.

20.

A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory.

21.

And in His name Gentiles will trust.''

*This prophecy is from Isaiah 42, and it has great news about our Savior.

But first let's focus on the fact that Jesus fulfilled this prophecy and that's not all.

Over 300 Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah were fulfilled by Jesus Christ!

No wonder Jon Allen said, "The biography of Christ was written centuries before He was born."