Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - A Bruised Reed He Will Not Break

Episode Date: March 1, 2024

Isaiah prophesies about a mysterious figure called the Servant of the Lord. In the New Testament, the writers identify the Servant of the Lord with Jesus Christ.  These prophecies tell us some things about Jesus, about his work, about what he brings, and about ourselves that we learn nowhere else. Many of the prophecies are called songs, the servant songs. Let’s introduce ourselves to this servant, and therefore, to what this tells us about Jesus Christ. The first of the servant songs is in Isaiah 42. We see depicted here 1) a servant king, 2) a healing king, and 3) a suffering king. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 31, 2010. Series: The Songs of the Servant (from Isaiah). Scripture: Isaiah 42:1-9. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to Gospel in Life. The book of Isaiah prophesies a servant of the Lord, a mysterious figure who is going to bring salvation. New Testament writers tell us that this servant is Jesus Christ himself. Why is it so significant that Jesus is identified as a servant? And what does it mean for his followers today? Join us as Tim Keller explores the person of Jesus Christ, the gentle and strong servant of the Lord.

Isaiah chapter 42, verses 1 through 9. 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. 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." This is the Word of the Lord. For centuries, in the weeks leading up to Easter, churches have, in their teaching and in their worship, focused on the subject of the mission of Jesus Christ. What did Jesus Christ come into the world to do? What did he come to do? And we are going to do that by looking at the final chapters of the book of Isaiah, where Isaiah, that great prophet, prophesies about a mysterious figure that's called the servant of the Lord. And in the New Testament over and over and over again, the writers insist they identify the

servant of the Lord with Jesus Christ. But there are some things that the prophecies tell us, that even the Gospels don't tell us. Some of the things the prophecies tell us, that even the Gospels don't tell us. Some of the things the prophecies tell us about Jesus, about His work, about ourselves, about what He brings that we learn nowhere else but here. And so, in the weeks leading up to Easter, we're going to look at the servant songs. Many of them are called songs, which is beautiful, and these are really quite exquisite. And this is the first of the servant songs, Isaiah 42 verses 1 to 9, and we will introduce ourselves to the servant, and therefore to what it tells us about Jesus Christ by looking

at this text. And we're going to see depicted here a servant king, a healing king, and a suffering king. A servant king, a healing king, and a suffering king. First, a servant king. Verses one to two, right away, confront us with an apparent contradiction, with a paradox. Because here we see, it says, here is my servant, whom I uphold my chosen one in whom I delight. He will bring justice to the nations, but he will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the streets. To bring justice is something a king does. And we're going to get back to what that means. But justice means putting everything right. To do justice is to put things right.

And to bring justice to the nations means to order everything the way it ought to be. And that's the job of a king, a king with power. And yet this person who is doing that, and therefore who is a king, at least bringing about the results of a king, is a servant. Now sometimes, you know, an emperor can look at another king and call the other king a servant. But this is a real servant because it says, he will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the streets. And the word cry out particular, that verb, means to drown out another voice. And the word in the streets means in public. And what this is telling us is this servant's methods are such that he does not seek to

control public discourse. And that is something that a king has to do. No king can function as a king and do that. This is a man who gets the results of a king, justice, but doesn't use the methods of the king. No power does not use power, does not exercise power. Now, because of that, this is very confusing, of course. What do you mean, a servant who's a king? Over the years, as people study the Scripture and we're looking to understand it, they compared this figure, and we're going to see over, as time goes on, this mysterious servant of the Lord suffers.

He's tortured. He's spit upon. He's despised. He's rejected. And he's tortured. He's spit upon. He's despised. He's rejected and he's executed. And so people who were trying to study the Hebrew Scriptures, they were looking at all these prophecies about a coming king, a coming messianic king, who was going to put everything right, who was going to do justice. In the earlier chapters of Isaiah talk about that, many, many other prophecies do. But students of the Scripture said, this person can't be that. This person can't possibly, we won't cry aloud, he gets executed, how can somebody bring justice if you're going to be despised

and rejected and executed? And therefore, many people, and still today, many people actually, interpreted this as a symbolic poetic personification of the believing community, that the servant who is suffering is just the believing community who is suffering. Now, as we go through this, you're going to see, to use a big word here, that that's not exegetically possible. That is, as we read the text, we're going to see over and over that the servant turns the believing community back to God. So the servant can't be the believing community. But basically they just said this can't be the Messianic King. So now you have some idea of what a revelation it was. It was literally lightning from the sky. When Jesus Christ shows up at the river, where John the Baptist is baptizing people,

and he goes down into the water and he's baptized, and as he comes out, heaven is open, the Spirit descends on him, and a voice says, this is my beloved Son, in whom I delight, in whom I'm well pleased. And scholars will tell you what is so astounding about that voice is the first half of that statement. This is my beloved son, is a quote from the Greek version of Psalm 2. Psalm 2 talks about the great Messianic king who's going to come and put down the nations and bring justice. And so the first half of that statement, this is the high king. This is the Messianic king who's going to bring justice. And so the first half of that statement, this is the High King. This is the Messianic King who's going to bring justice. But the second half, this is my beloved

child, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I sold the life. That's a quote from Isaiah 42 verse 1. And the Spirit, of course, is descending from Isaiah 42 verse 1. And therefore, the voice from heaven, God's voice is saying that this great, strong messianic king and this suffering servant are the same person and they're Jesus. Now how? I mean, seriously, how is that possible? How in the world could you have someone bring about the king's results, which is justice in the world, without using the king's methods, which is power and taking over? And we're going to find that out. As time goes on, we're going to find out a little bit of it today. We're going to find out about it as we go on and look at this suffering

servant. But for a moment, I want you to reflect with me. I want to meditate with you. I want to worship with you and meditate on this aspect of who Jesus Christ is, servant king, this juxtaposition of these almost contradictory things, this weakness, this meekness, this softness, this hardness, this power, this majesty together. Jonathan Edwards, the 18th century minister and philosopher, intellectual, American intellectual, preached and then later published a sermon called The Excellency of Jesus Christ. And he starts the sermon by saying, now, have you ever seen, imagine, have you ever seen a great man or woman? Great, maybe powerful, maybe intellectually brilliant, maybe talented, money. Okay. Have you ever seen a great man or woman stop and take advice from their driver or go over to a sick neighbor and make a meal?

Or sit with sympathy and listen to the problem of somebody who's, you know, in the human scheme of things, not very important. And he says, how do you feel when you see that? He says, oh, here's what you feel. You feel that this great person is even greater for not acting great. And this majestic person is even more majestic for not always acting majestic. But he says that is just the dimmest echo of what you have infinitely in Jesus Christ. And this is what he says in the, about this. He says, there is an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies in Jesus Christ. There is in Him a conjunction of such

diverse excellencies that would have seemed to us utterly incompatible in the same subject. There do meet in Jesus Christ infinite highness and infinite humility. He is higher than all the kings of the earth for He is the King of kings and Lord of lords so great is he that all the kings and princes of the earth are as worms in the dust before him. So great is he that all the nations are a drop in the bucket. He is infinitely above any need of us, so we cannot be of any profit to him. And yet, he is one of infinite humility. None are so low or inferior, but Christ is willing not only to take notice of them, but to enter into friendship with them, yet indeed to unite his soul with them in spiritual marriage.

To take our nature upon himself to become one of us so he can become one with us. He is great enough to become low for us, to expose himself to shame and spitting in death. Such a conjunction of infinite highness and infinite humility in the same person seems impossible, and therefore, he's altogether beautiful. Do you not agree? I mean this infinite contradiction, and yet it's not a contradiction, these diverse excellencies and virtues that cannot be brought together in the same person are brought together in him and it just fills you with worship and wonder. And here it is. And let me just,

before moving on, let me just say this. If you know Christ or you think you know Christ, if you have His Spirit or you believe you have His Spirit, if you think you're following this Jesus Christ, then do you not realize that that same supernatural, humanly impossible juxtaposition of seemingly contradictory virtues must be, to some degree, being reproduced in you? Do you see it? Is it happening? Ask your best friends. See if you by temperament, and some of us are by temperament, bold, confident, brash,

outgoing, is the gospel developing right alongside of it a kind of graciousness and humility and meekness that your friends have never seen before in you. Or if you tend to be, by temperament, the kind of meek and mild and you don't like to make waves and you, you know, you don't like conflict and all that. If you're that way, is the gospel bringing about in you a boldness and a humility and a directness that your friends have never seen in you? Are the bold being made tender because they know because of the gospel that now there's sinners saved by grace? Are the tender being made bold because they know their sinner's saved by grace? If you know this Jesus Christ, then that kind of character, that supernatural, humanly

impossible juxtaposition of seemingly contradictory virtues should be growing in you. So he's the servant king. Secondly, he is the healer king. And again, we now have a view of his mission, not in verses 1 and 2, but so much, but in verses 3 and 4. We have a view of his mission, and we're going to see again his mission is so unbelievably nosebleed, cosmically high, and so incredibly low and intimate as well. Let's look at the second verse. The first aspect of his mission, this is in verses 3 and 4, is in verse 3, a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out until in faithfulness

he brings forth justice. Now here we have another, we have to do a little adjustment because the English, our English word bruise does not get across the strength of the Hebrew word that this is translating. You and I, the word bruise is not a very strong word. We say, oh, it's just a bruise. Actually, the Hebrew word that here is translated bruised is also translated crushed. And what it's talking about is a deep contusion, not a break in the skin, no, not a break externally, a deep contusion that has either injured or destroyed a vital internal organ. And therefore often this word means a death blow.

It's talking about maybe something that doesn't show on the service, but inside you're dying. And when it gives us the image of a bruised reed, a bruised reed, we're talking about a stalk of grain that has been basically broken. It's broken at an angle. It's not broken into two pieces. See, it's bruised. But because it's broken at an angle, it's over. It's never going to produce grain. And yet this servant does what no one else can do. He can heal it. So it produces grain again. Now what is this? A bruised reed will not break, a smoldering wick like a candle, a flame just about to go out, he will not snuff out. What is this talking about? It's talking about

this. Jesus Christ, this servant, is attracted to hopeless cases. He loves the fragile. He loves people who are beaten and who are battered and who are bruised and maybe don't show it on the outside but inside they're dying. And he knows what to do with them. Over and over and over again, the Bible says, like Psalm 147 or Isaiah 61, he binds up the brokenhearted and he heals their wounds. Over and over and over. And let me give you just two examples. One from the Hebrew Scriptures, Old Testament, one from the New Testament.

In the Old Testament, here is Elijah. Elijah in verses chapter 18 and 19 of First Kings. And Elijah is a mighty prophet. He's a great man of God. But in chapter 19, he's cracking. He is cracking under the pressure of his ministry. He is despondent, and he is suicidal because in chapter 19, verse 4, he says to God, Take away my life, I don't even want to live.

So God sends an angel to him. And what does that angel do? What does God send the angel to do? Does the angel say, Repent! How dare you lose hope in me? Does the angel say, rejoice? I bring good tidings. Angels do that sometimes. Have great joy. No, he didn't. Did the angel ask him questions? No. You know what the angel did? Here's a man to spawn. Here's a man bruised. Here's a man flickering. Just ready to go bruised. Here's a man flickering, just ready to go out. His candle is ready to go out. You remember what the angel does? I love it. The angel

cooks. Some of you are pretty good cook, but I doubt you could cook. I mean, what an angel cook? It must have been really good. I mean, think about it. He's asleep, wants to die. He wakes up, the angel cooked him something, twice, and says, you know, you need more strength for the journey. And then eventually through the angel, God asks some questions and gets him talking, and eventually challenges him. But now look, maybe so bold as to say some of us are experts in the body. They're called physicians.

And when you come to undisputed people, the statistics say that generally you say, take a pill. And some of us are ministers or theologians or people who are big on morality and spirituality. And when we come upon depressed people, we say, repent by and large. And some of you are psychologists and counselors. and when you come upon a depressed person, you say, let's talk. Well, what do they need? Do they need a pill?

They need a repentance? Do they need to talk? What do they need? If you ever give the wrong therapy, if you ever give the wrong medicine, if you give an inappropriate therapy or medicine to the particular condition, you break the bruised reed. You put out the candle, but Jesus never does. So infinitely caring, tender and wise is He.

He never does. All other physicians, all other counselors, all other ministers, everybody else is reductionistic and simplistic compared to his infinite wisdom. He's attracted to the bruise, he's attracted to the battered. He's attracted to the hopeless cases that came out just about to go out and he never mistreats them. This is Richard Sibs. This is going down, down, down, down to see that the servant has come to deal with the bruised reeds, to deal with the weakest people in the human race, the people at the very

end of their rope. Richard Sibbs, the great 17th century British Puritan minister, wrote a classic work called A Bruised Read and A Smoking Flax. That's the older translation, A Bruised Read and A a smoking flax. And in it he says this. He says, see Christ's mercy to bruised reeds. If you want to see it, consider his borrowed names from the mildest creatures. He's called a lamb or a hen, a mother hen, Luke 13. Consider that Jesus will heal the brokenhearted, Isaiah 61, that at his baptism the Holy Spirit sat on him in the shape of a dove to show that he should be a dove like

gentle mediator. Oh, hear his invitation to come unto me, all ye who are weary and heavy laid in Matthew 18, Matthew 11, 28. He is a physician good at all diseases. He died. Jesus died that he might heal our souls with the medicine of his own blood Never fear then to go to God since we have such a mediator that is not only our friend but our brother our husband and Let this keep us when we feel ourselves brood say this to yourself and this is great He says if say to yourself if Christ be so merciful as not to break me, I will not break myself by despair. I like that for medicine. If Christ never breaks the weakest reed, then I'm not going to break myself. I'm not going to beat myself. I'm not going to beat anybody else up either. Jesus was the most influential man to ever walk the earth, and his story has been told

in hundreds of different ways. Can anything more be said about him? In his book, Jesus the King, Tim Keller journeys through the Gospel of Mark to reveal how the life of Jesus helps us make sense of our lives. Dr. Keller shows us how the story of Jesus is at once cosmic, historical, and personal, calling each of us to look anew at our relationship with God. Jesus the King is our thank you for your gift to help Gospel and Life share the transforming love of Christ with people all over the world. So request your copy today at gospelandlife.com slash

give. That's gospelandlife.com slash give. Now here's Dr. Keller with the remainder of today's teaching. So on the one hand, the servant came into the world to kiss your wounds, to love you, to deal gently with the most bruised people. But that's not all. Look at what else it says here. It says, this is verse 3 in 4 is amazing. A bruised reed, he will not break, a smoldering wick, he will not stuff out. I mean, here we are down, melt in your mouth, sweetness, and all of a sudden it says, until he brings forth justice. Now, three times out of four verses, these first four verses, the

servant's all about justice, and now we've got to come up. Do you know what justice is? This is the Hebrew word mishpat, three times out of four. Justice to the nations, bringing forth justice. He will not falter or discourage, we'll get to that in a second, until he establishes justice on the earth. What is justice? Now when you and I hear the word justice, we think of what the philosophers call rectifying justice or retributive justice, which is what the philosophers call rectifying justice means punishing evildoers. Someone has done wrong. They've broken the law. They've made a violation and we punish it. That's rectifying justice because justice does always mean to put things right.

But usually, and by the way, sometimes the word mishpat does mean that, but usually the word mishpat means something much more general, much, much more general. What? Here the word mishpat refers to something much bigger. It refers to the kind of society in which rectifying justice isn't necessary, because everything is in a right relationship with everything else. He is coming to bring justice, which is an ascitonym of that, really, is shalom, absolute well-being.

And a synonym of that really is shalom, absolute well-being. Now what is shalom? What is what the philosophers call primary justice, not rectifying justice, primary justice, shalom? What is this absolute well-being? Well-being is where everything is already in a right relationship with everything else. Rectifying justice is putting things in a right relationship. But everything is in a right relationship with everything else. Rectifying justice is putting things in a right relationship. But everything is in a right relationship with everything else. Just two examples, your body.

What do you call...what is health? Health is when every part of your body is working well with every other part. Every part is in a right relationship with every other part. What is cancer? What is heart disease? What is disease? What is aging? What is decay? What is death? It's your body parts no longer interacting with each other. They start to work against each other and they start to come apart. They're not in a right relationship with each other and you lose your physical shalom. Same thing with the community, same thing with society. When individuals are fighting with each other, wronging each

other, when classes are fighting with each other, wronging each other, when races, nations are wronging each other and clashing, you've lost your social shalom. So why are we... why is it that justice isn't here? Why do we need a servant? Why don't we have Shalom? How do we lose justice? How do we lose Shalom? And the answer is you got to go back to Genesis 3. Genesis 3 is the primary text. The minute Adam and Eve sinned and lost their right relationship and unity with God, the first thing that happened was they got out of a relationship with God. All other relationships fell apart. This is one of the most important things to understand about the Bible. This is the most important, one

of the most important teachings of the Bible. It's one of the most important principles to keep in mind as you're deciding what does it mean to live a Christian life in the world today. When Adam and Eve's spiritual unity and right relationship with God was broken, the next thing you see is their psychological unity and right relationship with themselves was broken. So they start to experience fear and guilt and emptiness. And thirdly, their social unity and right relationship with each other was broken. And that's the reason why the genders don't get along and the races don't get along and the nations don't get along and individuals don't get along. That's the reason we have poverty and war and all the things that we call social breakdown. And then lastly, physically, their body started to break down. In other words, all of the things that are wrong with us are the results of sin.

And now you begin to see what the serpent is coming back for. What is he coming back for? Is he coming just back to deal with bruised hearts? Is he coming only back, you know, to put in our hearts some joy and happiness? Is he simply trying to bind up our wounds and give us a good relationship with God? Is that always here to do? No, actually you can see it down in verse 7 when it says, when the servant comes he will open the eyes that are blind. Do you see that? When Jesus came back he opened the eyes that were blind. What does that mean? Does that mean he only opened eyes spiritually so they could see the truth of the gospel? What does that mean? He actually dealt with physical eyes that were blind so they could see. He did it all.

He did it all. And now we begin to realize what this servant is coming back to do, what Jesus is coming back to do. He's coming back to heal absolutely everything that's wrong with the world. He's here to put absolutely every relationship that's wrong right. That's what it means in the fullest sense to do justice. Put every relationship that's wrong right. That's the reason why Barry Webb, who's an Australian Old Testament professor, just in one of his commentaries on this passage says, in short, the servant will undo all the horrendous and degrading effects sin has had on the human race. All the horrendous and degrading effects sin has had on the human race. All the horrendous and degrading effects sin has had on the human race. What does that mean for you and me?

Let's ask the same question we asked at the end of the first point. Now we're at the second point, the healing king. What does it mean for you and me? What does it mean for a church that's trying to follow the servant? What does it mean to be a church of the servant? What does it mean for you church that's trying to follow the servant? What does it mean to be a church of the servant? What does it mean for you and I to follow the servant? Well, again, we have this paradox. It means, for example, we should be a church that on the one hand is unbelievably loving and kind to the most bruised, the most beaten.

We should not be an elitist church It also means by the way that we should do evangelism. We need to say This is the good news of who Jesus is this is what heals the heart But on the other hand we should be thinking about justice We should be talking to everybody about what does it mean for you to do justice to put relationships right out there in the world, to put everything right? But don't forget, it's not just that we have this balance here in point two of both doing justice and preaching grace, dealing with social structures and healing the hurt and heart. But don't forget the first point. The first point is we have to get the results of the king without the methods of taking power recently. And this is, by the way, this

takes a tremendous amount of wisdom on our part. Recently, last two or three weeks, I've read three or four books on Martin Luther King, Jr. And one thing was so striking. He had to deal with, on the one hand, the doctrine of sin, and on the other hand, the spirit of the servant. On the one hand, the doctrine of sin, and on the other hand, the spirit of the servant. On the one hand, the doctrine of sin tells him that human beings are corrupt, they're very sinful, and he realizes he was dealing with segregation in the South when he was dealing with African Americans that were not allowed to vote, even though they had the

right but they were kept away. When he was dealing with all those unjust laws, on the one hand he had people saying, hey, things will take time, everything will work out. But he says, I believe in the doctrine of sin, these people are never going to give up power. And so he decided on the strategy of civil disobedience. Sit-ins. And then, right? Civil disobedience. Sit-ins. Breaking the unjust laws. But on the other hand, he knew about the spirit of the servant, how Jesus didn't come to take power, but to give it up, and to love, and to die, and to suffer. And so, he said, non-violence.

Civil disobedience, but non-violence. And so, over and over, he said things like this. He wrote this. He says, you can turn your fire hoses on us. You can beat us, you can take us to jail. And we're not going to spit on you, we're not going to speak to you in disdainful language. We're not going to...we're not...we're going to love you, but we are going to disobey your unjust laws until you change them. And you realize that on the conservative side, people more conservative than Martin Luther

King, Jr. said, the idea of civil disobedience is terrible, but people who are more liberal than Martin Luther King, Jr. said, this idea of nonviolence is crazy. See, the radical is on one side, nonviolence is crazy. The conservancy on the other side says civil disobedience is crazy. But what did he do? He was saying, I want the results of the King without the methods. I'm not going to use violence. I'm not going to take use coercion. I'm going to love, but at the same time, we're going to insist this balance that at least for that moment was exactly what the society needed and dealt with the segregation in the South. But now that moment's over. Now what do we need? Christians have to think.

There's nothing easy about this, to be the church of the servant, to be followers of the servant, who get the results of the king but don't use the methods of coercion and power, who care as much about the broken, battered person and their need to have the love of Jesus in his heart as to systems of injustice in the world. Can you handle it? Can you follow this servant? Now lastly, we're not only told about the servant king and we're told that he's a healing king, we're finally told about him being the suffering king. Every single one of the songs of the servant are going to show us more about his suffering. So we ain't saying nothing yet, but there's a

hint even here. It's in verse 4 and it takes a Hebrew scholar to show it to you. And by the way, I'm not a Hebrew scholar, but I've read them. Notice it says in verse 3, a bruised reed he will not break at a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. And then in verse 4 it says, and he will not falter or be discouraged until he establishes justice on the earth. Do you know what the word falter is? It's the same word as snuff out. Do you know what the word discouraged is? It's the same word is snuff out. Do you know what the word discourages? It's the same word is bruised, and it moves from transitive to intransitive form, and here's what the point is. The point is, the servant will experience the very same things. He will be bruised, he will be crushed, he will be snuffed out, but it won't stop him from bringing about justice on the earth.

And if you want to understand this word bruise now, since it's actually inverse for though you can't quite tell in the Hebrew, now we begin to see how Jesus Christ is the climax of all the themes and one of the themes of the Bible is bruising. You know why? Go back to Genesis 3. Go back. Go back to the place where we lost justice, we lost Shalom, we lost all of our well-being, where all of our relationships went wrong. And you'll see that God, in the midst of all that mess, preaches the gospel. It's in Genesis 5, it's Genesis 3, verse 15. It's very brief. It's one little verse, a gleam of light in all

the darkness. And he actually preaches the gospel. People actually call it the Proat Evangelium, the Ur gospel, the very beginning of the gospel. But what's one of the most interesting things about it is he says it to the serpent. He preaches the gospel to Satan. It's actually an act of defiance. And you know what he says? He looks at the serpent, who's just tempted Adam and Eve. And he says, I'm going to give Eve, I'm going to give the woman a descendant. A descendant of Eve is going to come and he will crush your head but you will bruise his heel. Remember that? Very cryptic. And I must say for years I thought, he's going to bruise his heels so what? You know, heal?

You know, bruise? I mean, again, the English word bruise doesn't mean much, and heal. And I always thought, he will crush your head. This is the Messiah. This is the one who's going to end evil and do justice. He will crush your head, he says to the serpent, but you will bruise his heel. And now I realize, though, do you realize what's going on here? Do you understand something?

Think of the image. Here you're standing in a group of people. All your loved ones are around. And a snake, a deadly poisonous snake, starts slithering toward them. And you know that the only way to save them is to step on it. But don't you see when you step on a deadly poisonous snake, even if you crush its head, it can bite your heel and poison you. And you saved your friends

by being poisoned, having the poison of the serpent go into you. You saved your friends, but you've died. Now that's a strange illustration, isn't it? A very strange illustration? Not a strange at all. You know why it's not strange? Because when we get to Isaiah 53, the fourth servant song, we're going to hear it said, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised, or sometimes translations say he was crushed for our iniquities. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised. Or sometimes translations say he was crushed for our iniquities. He was wounded for our transgressions, the King James says, he was bruised for our iniquities, but by his wounds we are healed. Jesus says, I was bruised so I can deal with your bruises.

Look, my heart can't get into this. My mind can't get around it. I guess maybe yours can either, but let me just tell you what this is touching us. Jesus Christ took rectifying justice so he could bring primary justice. Jesus Christ took the punishment we deserve. He took the bruises we actually deserve. Because we're bruising each other. We're beating each other up.

We're at each other's throats. All the whole human race. We deserve to be just pounded. He took our bruises so that now, no matter how bruised you are, no matter how beat up you are, you did it to yourself, no matter what a mess you are, now if Jesus Christ has died for you, God instead of smiting you sends a spirit into your heart. And you know what Romans 8, 15, 16 says? Galatians 4 says, what the spirit is saying when it comes into your heart? It's God saying, you are my beloved child in whom I'm well pleased. Do you know what your bruised heart needs more than anything else no matter how bad you are, you need to hear God the Father say, I delight in you.

I delight in you as if you'd done everything the servant did. And now that you believe in Him, all of your sins have been put on Him, all of His righteousness has been put on you, and I delight in you as if you'd done everything He has done. And that's the thing that will heal your bruised heart. Jesus took rectifying justice so that someday He could come and put down all evil and not remove you. He took rectifying justice so He could bring primary justice. He took the bruises that we deserved. He took the bruises of the serpent. He got the poison of the curse So that we could go free and you know what this means. Let me just conclude like this We've seen a lot of good doctors and I'll tell you what a good doctor does a good doctor doesn't just prescribe

Medicine differently for each disease a good doctor prescribes medicine different for each patient. You know, it's not the same dosage for big people and little people, for old people and young people. Very often, male, female, you have to give the patient exactly what that patient needs. Whoever you are, whatever your need is, are you here feeling guilty or like a failure? Feeling like a failure? Are you here struggling with doubts and you're not sure you believe? Or, by the way, the worst illness, spiritual illness of all, do

you feel you hardly really need God? Are you here feeling like I don't have a problem and I don't really need God that much? I mean, I'm here for various reasons, but I don't really need God. You realize you are feverish spiritually. And sometimes the best thing a doctor can do is actually do a little bruising. We call it surgery. You know, they cut you open, blood cuts everywhere. It's horrible. They don't show it to you. They knock you out. But the point is, sometimes a surgeon, the best thing they can do to make you feel better is to make you feel worse for a while.

My point is that Jesus will give you what you need. I'm here to say, please put yourself in his care. Please put yourself in his care. I try to preach in a way that reaches everybody, but I can't. Our church tries to be for everybody, but it can't. No church can. But Jesus is for everybody. And He will give you what you need, no matter who you are. At the very end of the Gospel of John, I love the fact that John the thinker gets evidence

and Mary the lover gets called by name and Thomas the doubter gets to touch. And Simon Peter, the guy who's full of himself, gets a spiritual punch in the chops. Look, through the Bible, through prayer, through accountability, through fellowship, through friends who believe, through the baptism, through the Lord's Supper, through the means of grace, I urge you, put yourself in His care. He will not fail you. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for giving us a servant who brings justice and who cares for the most bruised and battered,

a servant who is kingly and yet tender and meek. We thank you, Lord, that you have given us this great salvation, this great Savior, but, oh Lord, we struggle to follow in His footsteps. We struggle to be vehicles for his salvation in this world. We struggle. We ask that you make us wise for our time and place, for our situation. Help us to be like the one who came not to be served,

but to serve and give his life for us in Jesus. And we pray, amen. Thank you for joining us today. If you were encouraged by today's teaching, please rate and review it so more people can discover this podcast. This month's sermons were recorded in 1990, 2003, and 2010. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017, while Dr. Keller was Senior Pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.