Mr. Ed Smith

Sermon Transcript

January 26, 2002

God's Great Promises...
The Compassion of Jesus Christ

I would like us to take a look at the book of Galatians as we begin to get into the message today. Over in Galatians, the fourth chapter. Many of Paul’s letters had to address certain problems. And it was to the church in Galatia that he of course had started off with a great flourish, then all of a sudden some of the Judahizers had come through and were upsetting their faith and wanting them to go back to legalism and all of that. And Paul mentions here:

Galatians 4:19 My little children, this is the only time Paul ever said that. John used it repeatedly in 1 John, calling the Christians, the saints, his little children. But here Paul addresses the Church of God in Galatia as my little children, showing he had great affection for them. for whom I labor in birth again In other words he had begotten them. In other words they had been begotten through the Spirit. And when he was there, as it were, a father to them, and now I am going to go through all of the birth pangs all over again until Christ is formed in you,

The word "is formed" here is a word actually from which we get metamorphosis, which is from the Greek word morphoo, which literally means to transform, or to change. And you remember Paul said in Romans 12, when he said to not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so you might prove what is the good and acceptable will of God.

So he said we need to be changed from what we have been to become Christ like. In other words, Christ be formed in us. Let’s look at Ephesians 4 and we find something along the same manner. He is talking here about the Church. He had just been saying there is one body, one spirit, one God and Father of all in the earlier part of the chapter.

Ephes. 4:12-13 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, So the building up for the body of Christ, the Church of God. As in Gal. 4:19, we find Paul here saying to the Church of God in Ephesus, [13] till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect or a full grown mature man or woman, the perfect of mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

You go back again and check the Greek words and stature merely means maturity or coming in age to be comparable to Christ. That, of course, obviously, will be a life long duty, or a life long vocation for us as Christians.

2 Corinthians 4:16, if you want to just put it in your notes there. Paul is saying to the Church of God in Corinth, though the outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is renewed, or is being renewed day by day. And so that for you and me is a challenge. Day by day we must be growing in the Christian life, putting on the characteristics of Jesus Christ.

In fact, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1. I will be giving you several scriptures. You just put them in your notes. We will work on through, for times sake. 1 Cor. 11:1, Paul says be you followers of me as I follow Christ. Now he had said back in the 15:4, imitate Christ. Imitate Christ. So he says follow me as I follow Christ.

Ephesians 5:1 says, be ye followers of God as dear children. And so, if we are then to be followers of God, imitating Jesus Christ, then we need to look to some of the characteristics of Jesus Christ and see, are those characteristics coming into our life? Are we being formed day by day to become more like Christ?

As you are well aware, over in 2 Timothy, you might look at that just real briefly. We have read this many a time, brought many a sermon on it. But I would just like to show you the counter part of what happens if we are not growing in grace and knowledge, if we are following the course of this world, which we dare not do.

2 Tim. 3:1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: If where any denying we are in that time now. Times of great stress. With the crashing of the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon, and all the heartache and grief that is going on as a result of that. And then our soldiers being there in Afghanistan and other places. And some being wounded and some being killed, and that which has come from that.

Notice some of the conditions. I want to point out just a couple of things. 2 Tim. 3:2 For men will be lovers of themselves… philautos. They would love themselves. Not love others. Certainly not love God, because he goes on to say they would be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, in the 4^th chapter. But notice this point, for men will be lovers of themselves. Notice what it says in verse 3. In the old King James it says they would be without natural affection. Or as the New King James says, they would be unloving. Unforgiving, being slanderers, without self control, brutal, despisers of good and so on. That of course, is the world we live in.

The course we are to take, if Christ is being formed in us, and we are following Christ, we are imitators of Christ and following God, then there is something that was in the life of Christ that I would hope is within us.

You could go back and study the life of Christ and obviously you find all of the different characteristics, all of the different qualities of what He was like and what He did and all of the things that He did when they came to Him and they took His yoke upon Him and so on.

What we find here is a characteristic in the Bible that I would like for you to zero in and really show you what we find in the life of Christ that I would hope is in our lives as well. That word being, in English, compassion. Now I am going to give you the Greek, not a classic Greek word, but a Greek word that shows a characteristic of Jesus Christ. It is only in the Bible concerning Him. It is in the synoptic gospels only, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Every place you find it it refers to Jesus Christ, except the three parables. And Jesus used those parables to illustrate the point.

The Greek word compassion actually is splagehnon. And splang is basically the viscera. You know what that is if you know anything about biology. The viscera is the vital organs. It is the heart, the lungs, the liver, the stomach. The Greeks believed, and also did the Jews believe, that they were the seat of emotions. They were the seat of affections. It was there where men would hate, they would pity, they would love. It was from the bowels that the inner most being or feelings of a person could be touched. And so when you see splagehnon it merely means bowels. And it is actually translated that way in the old King James.

If you can go back I will give you just few scriptures that show you the point. Let’s go to the book of Philippians and we will show what this word from which compassion comes. If you have got an old King James version, 1611 language, it says this statement.

Philip. 1:8 For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.

Now what is he talking about? He is talking about this word splagehnon. Notice the 2:1.

Philip. 2:1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

That is why in the New King James it is much more properly translated, any affection and mercy. And so the word bowels, from which comes splagehnon, actually means the inner most feelings, the inner most being of a person.

Now the word I want you to remember is splanknidzomahee. Now the reason I spell that out and want you to write it in your notes so you don’t forget it, we are going to see this in action in the life of Jesus Christ. It is how man finally could arrive at the love of God. Without this action in Christ’s life, it would be difficult for us to know that God is a loving God.

John 3:16 says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Well we know that. But we are going to see some action in Christ’s life that brings this spanknidzomahee into play. And it is the actual love in action, or actually the move to compassion that we will see in His life. This is right at the heart of the sermon that I want you to see.

Look at Matthew 9, we will view just a few places here in the books of the synoptic gospels. In the book of Matthew, the ninth chapter we will begin to read what happened here when Jesus was in His ministry.

Matthew 9:32-34 As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed. [33] And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, "It was never seen like this in Israel!" That someone could cast out demons. [34] But the Pharisees said, "He casts out demons by the ruler, or the prince, of the demons."

You remember in other places, Jesus said if that be so how can Satan cast out Satan or you would come to nothing.

Matthew 9:35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

Now the people were beginning to be attracted by the multitudes. They were beginning to flock to Him so much that they couldn’t even get in the house. Remember when they had to open up the roof and let the paralytic down on the bed? They were thronging Him where ever He went.

Matthew 9:36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was, now these are the words I want you to note, moved with compassion, there is the word splanknidzomahee. He was moved with compassion. If you look in some of the modern translations, one in which I was doing some study on this, it says He was moved to the depths of His being. That is basically what the Greek word says. He was moved to the depth of His being, for what reason? He saw the multitudes. They were perplexed, they were scattered. They were weary. The modern translation says they were harassed. In other words they were bothered on every side; with the Roman Empire that they lived in with all of their rules and regulations, the Jewish Pharisees and the others giving them all kinds of problems. He says. He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary, or harassed, and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.

That prompted Him to say, Matthew 9:37-38 …"The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. [38] Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."

Now what moved Jesus to compassion? He saw people lost, wandering about, and no sense of direction. They were like sheep without a shepherd. Have you ever seen sheep who actually are out running and maybe a wolf alarms them? They are running every which way, and even they would run over the cliff. They would run into the brier bushes and so on. That is what led Jesus to say in that particular case. He said would not the Son of Man leave the ninety and nine and go find the one sheep that is caught in the brier bush and rescue him from his entanglement, which of course, trapped him from being with the flock? And that is the same way that it should be to us today when we see one hurting, one wounded one, one lost one, one scattered about, wandering about. Jesus, when He saw that, He was moved with compassion.

Let’s go to the fourteenth chapter and pick up some thought here. You are very familiar with the feeding of the 5,000, same thing happened with the feeding of the 4,000.

In the fourteenth chapter John the Baptist had just been beheaded. Matthew 14:11-13 And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. [12] Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus. Matthew 4:12,17 says that Jesus began at that time to go out to preach the gospel of the kingdom after the death of John the Baptist.

Matthew 14:13-14 When Jesus heard it, You know that must have cut Him to the heart. It does not say what happened here, but this was His cousin. He was actually a second cousin, John the Baptist, from Elizabeth, and Jesus of course from Mary, who were cousins. He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. Now in another case, it went around the lake and came to the other side waiting on Him when He got there. So the multitudes were following. [14] And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion Touched to His utter most being for them, and healed their sick.

Matthew 14:15-20 When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food." [16] But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat." [17] And they said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish." 18 He said, "Bring them here to Me." [19] Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. [20] So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained.

What moved Jesus to compassion? Because, again, the multitudes were hungering. They were fainting, as one of the accounts gives it. They were fainting along the way.

Did you ever stop to think what the blessing was that Jesus said upon the fish and loaves? Believe it or not, the Jewish blessing is very short. It doesn’t go through all of the long, we thank you for this bread, and we thank You for this and thank You for that and so on.

Actually, the Jewish blessing goes like this: ‘Blessed art thou Yahweh our God. King of the universe who brings forth bread from the earth." And that was their blessing. He thanked God for the meal, for what He had brought forth, the fish and the loaves, and they broke it and they ate. That is not a very long blessing. Almost like the blessing where you have heard where people sat down to eat and the father said, well Johnny why don’t you say the blessing. He said, good food, good meat. I am hungry. Let’s eat. And that is about the way sometimes the blessings would go.

Jesus didn’t have a long, long prayer. He just said blessed art thou Yahweh, Creator of the earth, the One who brings forth bread from the earth. So they ate and were filled and were satisfied.

Let’s notice 15:32. Here again Jesus, the great multitudes came to Him, verse 30, having with them those who were lame, blind, maimed, and many others. And they laid them down at Jesus feet and He healed them.

Matthew 15:31-33 So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel. [32] Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way." 33 Then His disciples said to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?"

See, He had just fed the 5,000 a little earlier. This particular case He took seven loaves, and the fish, gave thanks, brake and gave to them, and it says there were about 4,000 this time besides men and woman.

Now what are we talking about? We found that Jesus was moved with compassion when He saw People wandering about like sheep without a shepherd. No sense of direction. No one to direct and guide them and show them the right way. We find also that He had moved to compassion when He saw human need. He saw hungering, and He supplied that need of theirs. He healed their sick and fed their hungry bodies and took care of them.

Let’s look into the next book of Mark, the first chapter, and we will begin to see some particular incidence when Jesus was with individuals.

Mark 1:39-43 And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons. [40] Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean." [41] Then Jesus, moved with compassion, Now Jesus could very well have said, don’t come near Me. If I touch you I will become ceremonial undefiled. But we can find, as we study the life of Jesus Christ, He rose above. His mercy, His compassion overshadowed some of the legalistic, if you touch the dead body you are unclean; or if you do this or that, come into contact with this or that you would be unclean or ceremonial defiled. Jesus had no concern for some of their legalism when it came to a human need. Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, Now that would be a no-no. That you would not do at all, is to touch a leper. In fact He could have very well, and rightly so, told the leper get out of here, go back to the colony because leprosy was one of the most dreaded disease of that time. A leprosy colony was one of the most deplorable wretched places because all were lepers and they had no place to go. They were put into a confine where it would not spread to others. But Jesus touched him and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed." 43 As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. [43] And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, And said, go give that, of course, to the priest, which shows you have been cleansed.

Let’s look now back to Matthew 20. Just some personal experiences now. He fed the multitudes. He took care of the multitudes. Now let’s look at certain individuals.

Matthew 20:29-30 Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him. And of course we have already seen how He was moved with compassion about the multitude. [30] And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, They heard the people talking and murmuring among themselves. Well, is this really the Christ? Is this really the son of David? Well, some would say I can’t see how that could be because of this, that or the other. Others would say, well nobody could do the things that He is doing unless He were of God, or He was from David, the house of David. So as they passed by, the two blind men cried out, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!"

Matthew 20:31-34 Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; Now notice something here. The multitudes reaction; probably your and my reaction would have been, hey He has got more important things to do then to be concerning Himself with you two blind men. Shut up. Don’t bother Him. He has more important things to do. but they cried out all the more, Illustrating they had faith. They had a need. They felt that He would help them because they had heard of the other healings. but they cried out all the more saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!" [32] So Jesus stood still Stopped right in His tracks. And the multitude stopped too. Now let’s see what will happen. and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?" [33] They said to Him, "Lord, that our eyes may be opened." Now if you are blind, if you were a blind person, I don’t think we have a blind person here but at the feast and different get togethers we do have blind people. If you are blind, never having seen your mate. Never having seen your baby. Never having seen a sunset or sunrise. Never seen any of the beauty of the green, the flowers, the trees and so on. That would be quite a wish. You had heard Jesus healed others; the blind, the deaf, the lame, the mute. And they said, have mercy on us. We want to be able to see. [34] So Jesus Rather than rebuke them; rather than ignore them; rather than become annoyed by them it says He had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.

Let’s look to the book of Luke. A very touching event in 7:11. Jesus of course had been healing the crowd. The woman had just been healed, who of course, the Centurion’s daughter of course had been brought to be healed. And He turned around and said to the people He marveled when the man said I am not worthy for You to come to my house, but if you say the word, the servant will be healed. And we find in verse 11, the day after He had found the servant sick. It says the next day…

Luke 7:11-14 Now it happened, the day after, that He went into a city called Nain; Which is not all that far away from Jerusalem. and many of His disciples went with Him, and a large crowd. [12] And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man, evidently a young dead man, was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and what was worse, and she was a widow. She had lost her husband. She had lost her only son. And a large crowd from the city was with her. To try to console her, comfort her, and so on. Quite a touching scene. Jesus could have walked on by just let them pass and take care of the funeral. In this particular case something happened. [13] When the Lord saw her, You remember when Lazarus had died? They came and told Him, there in John 11, a remarkable story, an account of when Jesus heard that Lazarus had died He lingered on until he died. Four days later He arrived at the home. And Mary and Martha, of course, dear friends of His, as well as Lazarus who was dead. Jesus, it says, wept. I know we try to explain away that He wept because of their unbelief and their unconcern and so on. I think we miss the point. He wept also because He loved Mary and Martha and He saw their suffering and their sorrow. And He said where is He. And they said Lord, he has been dead for four days. He stinketh. But He went and called him forth back to life again. One of the last events in Christ’s life, before the last supper, was that He had a meal with Mary, Martha and this Lazarus that was brought back to life.

It says, [13] When the Lord saw her He had compassion on her, splanknidzomahee came into play in His life. He was touched to His innermost being, and said to her, "Do not weep." [14] Then He came and touched the open coffin, as you have seen some of those that are killed in the Palestinian Israeli wars, and they carry them to their funeral. And they are on kind of a stretcher. And it is open. And they see them. Now this may have been some kind of a coffin that they put the dead body in, but no top on it, or it was open, the top was open or not in place at this time. It says, Then He came and touched the open coffin, in the New King James, and those who carried him stood still. Now here again, this could have been a legalistic Pharisaical regulation referring back to even the time when they were not to touch a dead body. But He said stand still, And He said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." Just as He had said to Lazarus and he came forth after four days in the tomb.

Luke 7:15-17 So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother. [16] Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen up among us"; and, "God has visited His people." [17] And this report about Him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region.

Jesus could be touched with the feelings of the infirmities and the problems and the needs of that day. Do you think Jesus could be touched with our infirmities today? When we lose a loved one? When we have sickness and suffering and sorrow and disease in our wracked bodies? Would Jesus be touched with our infirmities? We are going to find that He absolutely can and will be in His position as High Priest there in heaven for us now.

Let’s notice something a little bit further in a parable. Now as I said, there are twelve places spanknidzomahee is found. Nine of them refer to just what we read. Now we will look at a parable and see how that this very characteristic, Jesus used it, in relationship of one to another.

Matthew 18: about verse 23. Actually we know what the parable is all about. It starts out in verse 23, Matthew 18:23-24 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. [24] And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. Which was quite a bit of money. It would have been into millions of dollars as we reckon monetary worth.

Matthew 18:25-29 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. Now that is right. I mean, he had every right to do this because the man owed him this money. How he became indebted to him is not told. We are showing a comparison here of what is a godly forgiveness which should be coming in to us. [26] The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' [27] Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, Now notice what happens here with this account as to what happened as it followed through. He released him, and forgave him the debt. And we know that is likening unto Jesus Christ, God the Father, forgiving us of our debt, our total debt of sin, as we read over there in the book of Colossians and Ephesians. That debt of sin and guilt has been taken away by the blood of Jesus Christ. And so it says he forgave him his debt.

[28] But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; Now this same man that had been forgiven went out to a fellow servant who owed him about a days work, around $15. And it says, he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!' [29] So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' Matthew 18:30-33 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. [31] So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. [32] Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion Shouldn’t it have touched you in your inner most being? If you had been forgiven a million dollars and now somebody who owes who owes you $15 and you are going to strangle him until he pays you. What is wrong with you fellow? Couldn’t you have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'

Matthew 18:34-35 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. [35] So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, This is the reason Jesus is teaching this, showing compassion that He exerts to us, that He expresses to us and how that compassion then should come out of us and to our fellow man, to our neighbor, to our fellow brother. He said, so will He do to each of you that if from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses."

In the book of Ephesians and Colossians, we will try to get to that in a moment. We find that we are to be kind and tender hearted and forgive one another even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven us. And so here in this parable we are seeing we have been forgiven a lot. Couldn’t we forgive just a little? Just a little bit, when somebody hurts us? Wrongs us? Spitefully uses us? We have done all kinds of things to spite the grace of God, deserving nothing but death because the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life, we read in Romans 6:23. And so He says, couldn’t you jus have forgiven a little bit? Had some compassion? Because I showed much on you.

Let’s look at another one here in Luke 10. We are familiar with the parables but it illustrates something in relationship to this subject matter. We pick up the thought in verse 25.

Luke 10:25-27 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" [26] He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?" And He quoted some of the ten commandments. [27] So he answered and said, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself.' " That is the two great commandments. The ten are built on these basic principles.

Luke 10:28-30 And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live." [29] But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" ahha! I know I am to love my neighbor as myself, but who is my neighbor? [30] Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, Here, right were the two blind men were healed. Same road. and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

Now, if you study the background of this, this man had no business being on this road. It was notorious for vagabonds and bandits and thieves who lay in wait just waiting for somebody to come along to strip them of whatever they have got. And so they did that.

Luke 10:31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

You know why he probably passed by? To use the parable, to illustrate the point, the priest was probably going to his job as a priest that day. And if he delayed and stayed behind to help this person with his needs, if he showed compassion on him he would miss his chance administering in the temple that day because they took it by rotation and it was decided by lot who would be the next one up to serve in the temple that day. That is when Zacharias, by lot, was in the temple officiating his duties when the angel told him that his wife, Elizabeth, would have the child. So the priest didn’t want to miss his chance. His position was more important than compassion. And it says he went on.

Luke 10:32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.

Now what happened? Well the Levites of course were administering to the other duties and so on. He had no time for this because his God given duty was to officiate in the temple of all of the offering of the sacrifices and so on. So I am not going to neglect that to show compassion.

Luke 10:33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.

He was moved to his innermost being for this person half dead and wounded and bleeding. He saw the need.

Luke 10:34-35 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; For antiseptic and emollient, and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. [35] On the next day, He went further, the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.'

Now it is obvious. The lawyer was, as it were, backed into a corner. He didn’t have a leg to stand on after an illustration like that. He said, verse 36, 37:So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" [37] And he said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

Now what an impact that had on the lawyer we have no idea of knowing. It will be interesting to find out in the resurrection in the kingdom of God what happened to him. More than likely he sloughed it off and went his way. Just like the rich young ruler said what must I do to inherit internal life? And He told him to keep the commandments. He said I have done all of these. He said well if you want to really be a full grown mature follower of Mine, sell what you have. Give it up. Give to the poor and then come follow Me. And he said he went away sorrowful because he had riches. And he was going to let his money stand in the way of being a follower of Jesus Christ.

Let’s look at just one more. In the fifteenth chapter. One of my favorite accounts of what Jesus is here teaching again about the Father’s love and how it goes off to you and me. We are very familiar with the man who had the two sons.

Luke 15:11-12 Then He said: "A certain man had two sons. [12] And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.' So he divided to them his livelihood.

You know the rest of the story. He went into a far county. Spent his father’s inheritance that had been given to him, on riotous living. And then there came a severe famine. And then he began to be in want and then he became hungry. He would have gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate. And no one gave him anything. Verse 17, that is the key.

Luke 15:17 But when he came to himself, When metanoia happened to him. The Greek word metanoia is repentance. A changing of mind. A changing of attitude. A changing of thinking. He came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

Luke 15:18-20 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, [19] and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants." ' [20] And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, I used as a sermon back earlier on that this is such a touching thing. No doubt that the father sat there on the front porch many a day, many an afternoon, wondering will my son ever come home. But when he was still a great way off, He began to see this little image over on the horizon. Somebody coming. And when his father saw him and had compassion,

Now he could have been very angry, and rightfully so, for his son being so foolish to take this inheritance, squander it, riotous living. No telling what he did with it. And it is gone. And all the son can do is hope that his father will just let him work as a hired servant. Before he could ever get out of his mouth that I am not considered worthy to be your servant, the father had already put the robe on him and claimed him as his son. Why? Because he had compassion. It moved him to his inner most being to see the son that was lost is now found. That is why Jesus had compassion on the multitudes. Because they were as lost wondering vagabonds, and nobody to bring them to the fold.

Now, we know that there are many scriptures that we could look at showing that God is a merciful God. He is full of mercy, full of compassion and so on. I would like for you to take a look see here at Ezekiel 9. I think we are very familiar with this. As we look about us. As we see the things going on in this world. As we see the World Trade Center collapse. Those of you who were by your television, or saw replays of it later, you saw the damage that was done there. We got in from off of the road from my wife’s brother’s funeral Tuesday night. I couldn’t go to sleep. I couldn’t seem to relax so I saw down and watched the news. After the news came on, Ted Copple and Nightline. Ted Copple was over in Africa. The title of the series that he was doing while he was there was, "In the Heart of Darkness". And as I sat there on Tuesday evening, I don’t know if any of you saw that, any of you see that Nightline on Tuesday? Yes, some of you saw it. Here were the native Congolese girls in their teens were telling their tale of woe, their sorrow and their grief to Ted Copple and to a translator. What had happened was that soldiers would come into the village where these young teenage girls were, or some young married girls were, and rape them repeatedly. Tear them up. And Ted Copple said why are you telling this? They said we want the rest of the world to know what is going on here in this land. The next night they showed more and more. Finally with the question that Ted Copple asked, he said they tell their story of all of their woes and all of their problems and all of the plight that has come to them, but will there be anyone to answer? Will there be anyone to care? Will there be anyone to supply their needs?

Remember Jesus gave the parable there in Matthew 25 when He said the Son of man would come. Gather sheep on one side and goats on the other. And He began to say, I was in prison, you came and visited me. I was hungry and you gave Me food. I was thirsty and you game me drink. I was naked and you clothes Me. Sick and you took care of Me. And they said when did we do this? He said, when you have done it to the least of My brethren you have done it to me. And others would say well, they were hungry, they were thirsty, but no needs were supplied to them. And Jesus of course was saying, this is for you. This is the rule, the way, that you should follow.

When we live in a world such as we live now and see all of the things going on that Ezekiel is talking about. Ezekiel 9:4 and the Lord said to him, "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it."

The question is, do we sigh and cry? Are we moved to compassion when we see the suffering of this world and pray even more fervently Thy kingdom come? When we see people wandering, lost, spiritually starving, do we pray that God would send forth labors into the harvest? That the Good News would really have an impact? That our ABC students would really be charged with a mission? What they are taught, what they learn, will inspire them to go forth to the congregations they go back to and for whatever God may have for them? Hopefully so. When we look and see that this is an age of self love, without natural affection, not being moved to compassion, hopefully we can get stirred so that God would be able to put a mark upon us and say they are the ones who sigh and cry for the abominations done in Israel. They are concerned. They are moved to compassion for this sick and dying world.

Let’s look to Ephesians 4 as we being to bring this to a conclusion. I mentioned a moment ago that in Ephesians and Colossians there are those scriptures that say:

Ephes. 4:31-32 Some of my favorite scriptures in the Bible. It says, Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. Those are the things Jesus said would have no place in His kingdom. [32] And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.

Look at Colossians 3. Paul, the same writer, writing to these churches. These were the prison epistles while he was in prison. He wrote to the saints and admonished them along these lines:

Col. 3:12-13 Therefore, as the elect of God, We say that to us as the Church of God today, as the Church of God, the elect of God, the selected one that God has selected and called now, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; [13] bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

That is what some of the parables that we read about just a moment ago are all about. Let’s look over in the book of Micah 7 just for a couple of last scriptures. Here in Micah, after Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah. I go through them saying my little memory work as I work to Micah. I know which book he follows and which one came before, if you remember the old memory when you memorized the books of the Bible.

Here in Micah 7, we can certainly be thankful that God, who is a loving and compassionate God in Jesus Christ who demonstrated that while He was on earth.

Micah 7:18

Who is a God like You, Who is a God like the God whom we serve? The creator God, Jesus Christ, our elder brother. Who is a God like you,

Pardoning iniquity

And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? Or His people.

He does not retain His anger forever,

Because He delights in mercy.

He is a compassionate God. He can be moved to compassion. Micah 7:19

He will again have compassion on us, He will have this inter-most being stirred,

And will subdue, or conquer, our iniquities.

You will cast all our sins

Into the depths of the sea.

He will put our sins from us from us as far as east is form the west, it says in Isaiah. In Jeremiah when He makes a new covenant, He says our sins and our iniquities He will remember no more. He will cast our sins into the depths of the sea under the blood of Jesus Christ.

Micah 7:20

You will give truth to Jacob

And mercy to Abraham,

Which You have sworn to our fathers

From days of old.

In other words, God says it will turn out all right. It will turn out for the good of My people and ultimately all mankind.

Let’s look at one last scripture over in the book of Hebrews. There are may other scriptures we could show you some of the compassion. Before we go to Hebrews, let’s look at 1 Cor. 12 on our way there. We are very familiar with Ephesians 4 showing its church and its functions and the ministry why it was given so that the Church grow and develop. 1 Cor. 12 is talking about the body of Christ, the Church of God, and the members in it and everyone having their function to do. And he even talks about the comely parts, the presentable parts, and other parts, each being given honor, each being given a role or position of responsibility. Every last one in the Church.

1 Cor. 12:25 that there should be no schism in the body, or any, as the margin says, any division. There should be no divisions in the body, in the Church, but that the members should have the same care for one another.

As I sat there looking at the casket that my wife’s brother was in I thought, you know, there is an old song maybe it is too sentimental and maybe not so, the song says does Jesus care? Oh yes He cares. I know He cares. It says here we are also to have the same care for one another. I do want you to be aware my wife appreciated so much the cards, calls, that you sent. And the beautiful flower arrangement that came yesterday. It made her day. Because we know you care. It says from the Cincinnati Each Church, and we appreciated that. And as I sat there during the funeral I thought it is good to have our family, our church family who does care for each other. And as it says here:

1 Cor. 12:26-27 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. [27] Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.

When we announce anniversaries, when we announce happy occasions, sure we all rejoice together. But when we hear of hurting ones; I remember it was just a little less than a year ago, I think back March, April, I was with Mr. Fenchel down at Deaconess Hospital. Lisa was having surgery. Couldn’t get it all. Heartbreaking when the doctor came in and says she has lymphoma. Couldn’t get it all. We went on up later, Gary Antion and Matt and I and sat by Lisa’s side. Said how are you feeling? She says, I have felt better. Your heart goes out to hurting ones.

Karen Kederson. I visited her in the hospital. She joined ranks with me, she had no hair. What a lovely sight. A lovely sight. I got a couple here I love so much Bill and Evyln, lost their little Billy when he was only thirteen I believe it was. Your heart goes out. Hopefully we will never loose our tenderness for each other.

Let’s look for a final scripture in Hebrews four. I promised this to you. One of my favorite scriptures I take a lot of comfort in, hopefully you do to. Hebrews 4 is talking about Jesus Christ as a High Priest who came and is now at the right hand of the throne of God in heaven. Not like the high priest of old who just went through rig-a-ma-role and rituals. Jesus Christ, He is there in heaven.

Hebrews 4:14-15 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Let us hold fast to our beliefs, to our adherence, to our reliance on God. [15] For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize, who cannot compassionate with us, with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Nothing, nothing, nothing, we could go through that Jesus Christ hasn’t already been there. And we go to the Father and we say Father I am hurting. I have got this need. Whatever the problem might be. Jesus Christ our high priest is right there at His right hand saying Father, I know what they are going through because I have been there. I have done that. Now they need some help and that is why He says in verse 16:

Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.