Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 34 in your hardbacked hymnal, number
34, Immortal, Invisible. Let's all stand together. 34. Immortal, invisible, God only
wise. In light inaccessible, hid from
our eyes. Most blessed, most glorious,
the Ancient of Days. Almighty, victorious, thy great
name we sing. Unresting, unhastening, and silent
as light, Nor wanting, nor waiting, Thou rulest in light. Thy justice like mountains, high
soaring above, by clouds which are fountains of goodness and
love. To all life Thou givest, to both
great and small. In all life Thou livest, the
true life of all. We blossom and flourish as leaves
on the tree. And wither and perish, But naught
changeth thee. Great Father of glory, pure Father
of light, Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight. All praise we would render, O
help us to see ♪ Tis only the splendor of life I did see Please
be seated. Let's open our Bibles to Psalm
40, one of my favorite psalms, Psalm 40. you know those who are not able
to see talking of religious people now bible scholars as they call
them who are not able to see christ in all the scriptures
have identified some fifteen some seventeen of the psalms
as messianic and uh... we know all the psalms are messianic
and they all speak of him uh... but even they cannot not see Christ in Psalm 40. So, although there's some things
at the end of this Psalm that I don't think they've come to
understand. So let's read it together. I
patiently, I'm sorry, I waited patiently for the Lord, and he
inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out
of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet on
a rock and established my goings. He hath put a new song in my
mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it and fear and
shall trust in the Lord." What a glorious testimony of our Lord's
resurrection and ascension and and the rejoicing that his people
have as a result of his accomplished work. Blessed is that man that
maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor
such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord my God, are thy
wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which
are to usward. They cannot be reckoned up in
order unto thee. If I would declare and speak
of them, they are more than can be numbered. Sacrifice and offerings
thou didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt
offerings and sin offerings hast thou not required. Then said
I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. It's interesting with that very
verse right there in this Psalm that they have singled out as
being Messianic tells us that all the Psalms speak of him in
the volume of the book. It is written of me. I delight
to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid Thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared Thy faithfulness
and Thy salvation. I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness
and Thy truth from the great congregation. Withhold not Thy
tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let Thy lovingkindness and Thy
truth continually preserve me, for innumerable evils have come
past me about. And here's the part that I never
heard any of those who would even call this a messianic psalm
give any explanation for or understanding. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I am not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of mine head. Therefore, my heart faileth me. God made him who knew no sin
to be made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. When the Lord Jesus bore our
sins on the cross in his body, he suffered the full shame, sorrow,
and separation that sin causes. And he owned our sins as his
own and calls them here, my sins have taken hold, my iniquities
have taken hold upon me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. O Lord, make haste to help me. Let them be ashamed and confounded
together that seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be driven
backward and put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate
for reward for their shame that say unto me, aha, aha. Let all
those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such
as love thy salvation say continually, the Lord be magnified. But I
am poor and needy. Yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer. Make no tearing. Oh my God. I'm so appreciative to you all
and rejoice in with us and Jennifer's good report that she got today. Her tumors have shrunk, I think,
around 25 or 30% as a result of this trial that she's been
in. So she goes back in three months
and gets another scan to see how things are going, but we're
very, very thankful. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, Thank you for the revelation that you've given us of our Lord
and Savior, thy dear son, Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray that you would give grace to our hearts by your
spirit to see him more fully tonight. We ask, Lord, that you
would cause your word to be living and effectual. And then it would
reveal in the volume of the book, the glory of thy dear son. Lord, we thank you for your grace,
your mercy. We thank you, Lord, that you
delight in showing mercy towards sinners. We thank you that you've
made us to be sinners and caused us, Lord, to see our need for
Christ. Lord, we pray that you would give us now the faith to
draw near to thee. We thank you for the blessings
that you bestow upon us, not only in our salvation, but in
our life. And Lord, we know that they are
all by your grace. You find nothing in us that causes
us to be worthy of these blessings. It's all by your mercy and all
by your free and sovereign grace. And we rejoice and thank you
for it. Thank you for this report for
Jennifer. We ask it all in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen. Let's all stand together again.
We'll sing hymn number 44 from the Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn
book, number 44. Precious Savior, Friend of sinners,
we as such to Thee draw near. Let Thy Spirit dwell within us,
with that love that casts out fear. Matchless Savior, let us
know Thee, as the Lord our righteousness. Cause our hearts to gleam unto
Thee, come and with Thy presence bless. Open now thy precious treasure,
let thy word here freely flow. Give to us a gracious measure,
tis thyself we want to know. Please be seated. I love that line, leave us not
to empty notions. If the Lord was to leave us to
ourselves, that's all we would have is empty notions. Thank
God he has given us his word. He's given us a desire and love
for his word. He's given us his Holy Spirit
to reveal to our hearts glory of Christ by his word. What a
blessing. We're going to be in Luke chapter
7 tonight and I've titled this message, A Compassionate Savior. A Compassionate Savior. This
is the story of our Lord going to Nahum and raising from the
dead a young man that was the only child, the only son of a
widow woman. and such tender mercies and compassion
that our Lord shows toward her and toward him. And we have the glorious hope
and truth of knowing that our Lord is the same today as he
was yesterday. He's the same compassionate Savior
now toward the poor and the needy. as he was then. Luke is the only
one that records this miracle. Matthew, Mark, and John don't
mention it. And I can't help but thinking,
because Luke gives us several miracles that only he speaks
of, and they all have to do with some sort of medical healing. And Luke was you know, a doctor, and so he
records this miracle of a dead man being brought to life. And
it's very brief, only five verses, but full of comfort and hope
and truth for sinners. And I'm so hopeful that the Lord
will speak comfort and peace to our hearts tonight. we'll
begin reading in verse 11. And it came to pass the day after
that he went into a city called Nahon. Now Nahon by translation
means beautiful. And what a beautiful story this
is and what a beautiful savior we have that would look and have
compassion towards those who are in need. And many of his disciples went
with him and much people." So there's a large group of people
now that are moving from Capernaum to Nahum. Now, when he came nigh
to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried
out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow and much
people of the city was with her. Now in the economy of this day,
A woman without a husband, without a son would be destitute. No one to provide for her. And
so this is a picture of one who is poor and needy. And we know that it's a spiritual
picture of us. We're the widow woman who has
no one to provide for us. when the Lord has mercy on us
and brings us to faith in Christ. And when the Lord saw her, that's
where it all begins. It all begins with the Lord seeing
us. He sees us long before we see him. And not only did he
see her, but he had compassion on her. His heart was moved in
compassion for her. and said unto her, he speaks
to her, weep not. This was a grieving mother who
knew that not only had she lost her son, but she had lost any
means of being provided for in this world. She did not have
a husband to grieve with her in the loss of this young man.
And he came and touched the bier, the coffin, And they that bear
him stood still. And he said, young man, I say
unto thee, arise. And he that was dead sat up and
began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother."
There's the miracle. And there came a fear on all
and they glorified God saying that a great prophet is risen
up among us and that God had visited his people. And this
rumor of him went forth throughout all Judea and throughout all
the region roundabout. And the disciples of John showed
him of all these things. You know, we often stress, and
rightly so, the deity of Christ. It is his deity that is denied
by men. They will give lip service. As the Lord said, you say unto
me, Lord, Lord. You'll say that I'm God. You'll say that I'm sovereign.
You'll say that I'm omnipotent. You'll say that I'm immutable.
You'll ascribe to me those characteristics of deity, but you deny the very
essence of what they mean when you deny me my glory and salvation,
when you cause man to be overpowering
of God. You've put man on the throne
of God and you've made yourself to be God. So in response to
what men naturally think, it's right for us to stress the deity
of Christ. It's right for us to be reminded
that he is sovereign. He rules over the armies of heaven
and over all the inhabitants of the earth and no man can stay
his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? He has mercy upon
whom he will have mercy and whom he will, he hardens. That's who
he is. It's right for us to be reminded
of his power, his omnipotence, that all power and all authority
has been given unto me in heaven and in earth. He possesses all
power, we have none. And we are dependent upon him
for that. It's right for us to be reminded
and to stress the importance of his immutability. He's the
same yesterday, today, and forever. I am the Lord and I change not.
We have a God who is self-existent and eternal and has never had
a new thought. He's never been taught anything.
He's never learned anything. He's never had a question. He's
fully God in himself. And the Lord Jesus himself is
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. It's important for us to be reminded
of our Lord's deity. It's also important for us to
be reminded of his humanity. For his compassion, the scripture teaches us, comes
from the very fact that he understands He understands what we are and
the struggles that we have because he had them himself. Let me show
you that. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
two. Hebrews chapter two. The Lord
reminds us of what we just read in Psalm
40. My sins, my sins have over overcome
me. They're too numerous for me.
He was the one that was taken from the miry clay. He was the
one who suffered the full wrath of God's judgment for sin. He
was the one who experienced the sorrow and the separation of
sin more than you and I have ever began to experience. He
experienced it in the fullness of its darkness. and also in
the fullness of the weight of all the sins of all of God's
people. So he says to us, look here in Hebrews chapter two,
and we'll begin reading in verse 16. For verily he took not on
him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his
brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For
in that he himself suffered being tempted, he is able to help them
who are tempted." It's important that we that we believe and declare
and be reminded of the glorious deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's equally important. He
is the God man. And he he he sympathizes with
our weaknesses. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
4. Hebrews chapter 4. Look at verse 14. Seeing then that
we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus,
the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not
a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of
our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are,
yet without sin. And now was the Lord saying,
therefore, let us come. Let us come. We're not just coming
to a Savior who is fully God. We're coming to a Savior who
is fully man and who experienced at an infinite degree all the
trials and troubles and sufferings that you and I experience. And
so in light of this, He's not unable to be touched
with the feelings of our infirmities, he knows what those feelings
are, he's experienced them. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, come with confidence. Yes, we come
with confidence knowing that he's God, knowing that he's sovereign,
he's omnipotent, he's immutable, he's holy, he's able. But we come also with confidence
knowing that he understands, by experience he understands.
He, when we go, we go through, if a person goes through an extraordinary
trial, they're not really comforted by those who have not gone through
what they've gone through. as much as they are comforted
by those who can relate to them by experience. Isn't that true? And you, a person who's known
by experience exactly what you've gone through, then when they
speak, they have some authority about what they're saying and
you can enter into their sorrow and their compassion and their,
and their wisdom in that experience because they know exactly where
you are. That's what our Lord's saying.
We come boldly to the throne of grace. And here in this miracle,
I believe this is what we're seeing. You know, in John chapter 11,
when our Lord was at Lazarus' tomb, the shortest verse in all
the Bible is what? Jesus wept. And men try to explain
that away, and they say, well, you know, he was weeping because
he knew he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. And in
raising Lazarus from the dead, he was going to bring him back
into this sinful world. And he was weeping over the unbelief
of all the other people there. I've heard all these explanations.
That's not true. Jesus wept because he was a man.
Because he was experiencing the feelings of our infirmities.
He was experiencing the sorrow of his friends. And that's what
people do when they experience sorrow. They weep. That's why
he wept. And he weeps with us. And he
saw this poor widow woman of name who had already lost her
husband and now had lost her son And he says to her, weep
not. And he has compassion for her. We have a God who remembers that
we're made of dust. He bore our griefs and our sorrows. And he is full of compassion. We know that the story of the
Good Samaritan in Luke chapter 10 is primarily about Christ. Yeah, the Lord's teaching us
to, you know, to be, you know, take care of the needy, but he's
teaching us that more by example than anything else. And when
the man who had been beaten and left for dead and robbed was
dying, the priest came and they went on the other side of the
road. The priest couldn't help him. The Levi came, went on the
other side of the road. Levi couldn't help him. And a
certain Samaritan came and when he saw him, he had compassion
on him. And that Samaritan took this
wounded man and bandaged his wounds and took
him to the inn, took him to the church and provided everything
for him and said, if you have need for something more than
what I've left, I'll square it up with you when I come back. What a picture of our Lord. He has compassion on those that
have been beaten up by sin. He knows the pain and the sorrow and the suffering of sin. He
knows it better than you and I could possibly know it. And
when he sees us, he has compassion upon us. In Mark chapter 6, the Lord looked
over a group, a large group of people and the scripture says,
that he was moved with compassion because he saw them as sheep
without a shepherd. Scattered sheep, vulnerable sheep,
sheep that can't care for themselves, sheep that are prey to every
wolf and every predator. and the Lord saw them and he
has compassion on them because he saw them as sheep without
a shepherd and he became their shepherd. Mr. Davis said the
Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want of anything he's providing
for me he he's the one who cares for me and leads me besides still
waters and has prepared a table before me in the presence of
my enemies and and and takes me to green pastures and his
rod and his staff, they comfort me. All these things the Lord
Jesus provides because of his compassion for his sheep. Because without him, they don't
have a shepherd. In Mark chapter one, the scripture
says that a leper beseeched our Lord and said to him, Lord, I
know that thou canst Make me clean if thou will. And the scripture says, then
the Lord looked upon him and had compassion on him and said
to him, I will be thou clean. It is his compassion. I'm not
saying that as a result of the incarnation that God changed. We can't say that because he's
loved us with an everlasting love. And his love is perfect
and it's never changed. But as a result of his incarnation,
he's able to sucker us as we just read in Hebrews chapter
four, help us. He's able to say to us, I understand. And we're able to see him as
a loving, compassionate savior who knows. The feelings, the
feelings of our infirmities. Isn't that where our issues are
with feelings? Oh, our feelings can be so difficult. And here's the good news, brethren.
Here's the good news, sinner. Our Lord has the same compassion
on us when we're disobedient. And when we're rebellious, his
compassion doesn't change. He doesn't change from having
tender mercies toward us when we're doing well to being angry
at us when we're not. Let me show you that in the scriptures.
Turn with me to Psalm 78. Psalm 78. And this glorious truth is the one thing that causes
us to want to obey him. Look at verse 37. For their heart
was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant,
but he being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity and destroyed
them not. Yea, many a time turned he his
anger away and did not stir up all his wrath." And speaking
of those rebellious Israelites, are we really any different than
they are? The Lord showed mercy toward them and they ate of the
manna every day. The water came from the rock
and they continued to murmur and continued to disobey and
the Lord said, I'm going to remember my covenant even if they don't.
When they're not faithful, he remaineth faithful but he cannot
deny himself. His children are his body, that's
his family, that's his bride. He's not going to deny her even
when she's Even when she's, his compassion for her doesn't change. Look at Psalm 86 over just a
couple of pages. Verse 14. "'O God, the proud
are risen against me, "'and the assemblies of violent men "'have
sought after my soul, "'and have not set thee before them. "'But
thou, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, "'and gracious,
long-suffering, "'and plenteous in mercy and truth.'" Oh, turn
unto me and have mercy upon me. He's full of mercy. Here's what
our Lord's telling us in this miracle. He's telling us something
about his own nature of compassion toward the poor and the needy,
the widows, the fatherless, those who can't provide for themselves,
those who can't care for themselves. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
41, Isaiah 41. Is this the kind of savior you
need? Savior who doesn't change even
when we do. Isaiah 41, look at verse 17.
When the poor and the needy seek water and there is none, and
their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them. I
the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high
places and fountains in the midst of the valley. I will make the
wilderness a pool of water and dry and the dry land springs
of water. Here's his promise. He may bring us to our wits end,
as the scripture says. He may bring us to, you know,
where we're just dying of thirst. but he's not gonna let us die. Psalm 145 verse 8, the Lord is
gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and of great mercy. We call him the God-man. Yes, he's fully God. and he's
fully man and he understands the feelings of our infirmities.
He's experienced them far beyond anything that we know anything
of. And he says, come unto me. All you that labor and are heavy
laden, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. I've already, I've already, carried
the weight of the yoke. My burden is light. The burden
that he gives to us in getting in the yoke with him is a light
burden. Why? Because he bore the full weight
of that burden at Calvary's cross. Isaiah 40 verse 6 says, I am
poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my
help and my deliverer. You know, even we who are so
selfish and sinful cannot help but to feel feelings of compassion
towards a person who is greatly afflicted and greatly humbled
by that infliction. Can we not? I mean, it would take an extreme narcissist and uncompassionate,
unfeeling person to not have feelings of sorrow for another
person who is experiencing great trouble and has been humbled
by that. And we are the same. I think this has something to
do with being created after the image of God. We resist, we don't
have any answer. A person who's proud and arrogant,
we stray away from that, don't we? But a person who's broken,
oh, what can we do? We see a person brokenhearted.
I mean, even us would show compassion towards someone like, how much
more? How much more? If you, being
evil, can be like that towards one another, how much more, dear
Heavenly Father, how much more the Lord Jesus Christ, who has
perfect compassion and perfect love, who sees the widow in need
and says to her, weep not, I have compassion for thee. Psalm 72
verse 12 says, he shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the
poor also and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor
and needy and shall save the souls of the needy. They who
have no, this woman had no helper. She had her friends there in
the city of Nahum that were, you know, that were grieving
with her, but long-term, She wasn't gonna have anybody provide
for her. And there we are, dead in our
trespasses and sins in need of a compassionate savior. We can't
discuss this subject without looking at Ezekiel 16 again.
Turn with me there, Ezekiel chapter 16. This is such a beautiful
picture of our Lord's compassion Ezekiel 16. Verse 2, Son of man, cause Jerusalem
to know her abominations and say, thus saith the Lord God
of Jerusalem, thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite and
thy mother a Hittite. And as for thy nativity, In the
day that thou was born, thy navel was not cut, neither was thou
washed in water to supple thee. Thou was not salted at all, nor
swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee to do of
thee any of these, to have compassion upon thee. But thou was cast
out in the open field in the loathing of thy person in the
day that thou was born." Here's the birth of a child that is
being cast out. Nothing's being done to provide
for that child. And when I passed by thee, and
I saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee,
when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee,
when thou wast in thy blood, live. I have caused thee to multiply
as the bud of the field. And he goes on to to declare
his compassion toward this helpless child. This is what this miracle is
about. It's about the nature of the benefactor and the nature of the beneficiary.
We see both of those here. We see the compassion and the
ability and the grace of our Lord and we see the need of this
widow woman. But there's another person besides
the widow woman in this story and that's her son and he's dead. He's dead. You know what that's a picture
of. It's a picture of what we are, left to ourselves. We come
into this world spiritually dead. In the day in which you eat of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall surely
die. And Adam died and all that came from his loins died in him. And the wages of sin is death.
And all of sinning comes short of the glory of God. And in Adam,
all died. So there we are, spiritually
dead. Now there are free willers that will agree with everything
I just said. And then just like with the deity
of Christ, they will deny what being dead really means when
they will ascribe to a dead person the ability to believe. Yeah,
he's dead, but he's got a spark of life in him. Well, he's not
dead if he's got a spark of life. He's not dead if he can make
a decision, he's not dead. Well, God wants us to love him
willingly. Yeah, and he'll be sure that we do. Oh, he drags, there may be some
experiences that the Lord puts us through prior to our new birth, but he drags none kicking and
screaming into the kingdom of God. He makes us willing in the
day of his power. That's what the new birth does.
The new birth gives us a new nature. It gives us the Holy
Spirit. It gives us a love for Christ
and a love for God and a faith in Christ. And we desire him. We believe because we're born
again. We believe what the Bible says
about being dead. And we believe that we are in
need of a sovereign work of grace whereby the Holy Spirit sees
us in our blood and says to us, live, live. You know, the power
of our Lord's words here, let's look at this verse one more time.
Look at verse 14, the end of verse 14. Young man, I say unto thee, arise. Never a man spake like this man
before. He didn't talk like the scribes and Pharisees. He spoke
with authority. And even the prophets of the
Old Testament could not talk like this. The prophets had to
say, thus saith the Lord. No one ever said, I say unto
you, arise. Only the living word of God could
speak with such power and such authority. Lazarus, come forth. And he came out of the tomb.
He didn't have to. Call on any help and, you know,
that, no, he. The daughter of Jairus, you remember
when Jairus came, my daughter's dying and the Lord went to, by
the time he got there, they said, Bob the master, no more, your
daughter's dead. And the Lord came into the house and said,
the damsel is not dead, but sleeping. And the scripture says that they
mocked him. They mocked him, for they knew
that she was dead. and he put them all out of the
room except for Jairus and his wife. They were the only ones
to witness the miracle. And what did he say? Damsel,
I say unto thee, arise. Oh, only he has that power to
say to a dead person. And notice that the scripture
calls this man a young man. Now the rich young ruler is called
a young man. The apostle John, the youngest of all the apostles,
is called a young man. When Ananias and Sapphira lied
to the Holy Spirit and God killed them, the scripture says, and
the young men came in and carried their bodies out. What is the point here? Well,
this was either late teens or early 20s man. Though it happens, statistically
it's very rare for a young man of that age in the prime of his
life to die. And yet, here's the Lord taking this young
man, restoring him to his mother and saying to this one who is
a Statistical rarity. Is that not
what the remnant is? The remnant. Not many healthy, in the prime
of their life, people believe themselves to be dead. You see,
that's a work of grace. That's a work of grace when the
Lord causes causes us to believe that we have no life in ourselves,
that the Lord Jesus is our only life and that his death on the
cross is our only hope of salvation. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Now that doesn't mean that if
you are poor in spirit that you'll be blessed. You know, that's
what the self-righteous religionists might think, well I'm gonna put
on a spirit of piety and humility and God's gonna bless me for
that. No, to be poor in spirit means that you're destitute,
that you're like this widow woman, you've got no one to help you.
That you're like this young man who's dead You can't help yourself. You've got nothing. You can do
nothing. That's what it means to be poor
in spirit. And that is the blessing. So
when the Lord said in Matthew chapter 5, blessed are the poor
in spirit, the poor in spirit are the ones that have been blessed
by God. For they shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. Blessed
are they who mourn. Again, are we going to mourn
and then God's going to reward us for our mourning by blessing
us with something? No. The mourning is the blessing. To mourn over sin is the blessing. It is the work of grace in the
heart. It is God making a young man
dead. Blessed are they who hunger and
thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. Well, I'm
gonna hunger and thirst after righteousness, God's gonna bless
me for it, no? Hungering and thirsting after Christ as your
righteousness is the blessing. It is the blessing, isn't it? Oh, the Lord was such power speaks
to those who are without strength. When we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. I read a quote recently, I put
it in the bulletin for this coming Sunday, I'm gonna read it to
you. The first link between my soul and Christ is not my goodness,
but my badness. It's not my merit, but my misery. It's not my standing, but my
falling. It's not my riches, but my need. He comes to visit his people,
yet not to admire their beauties, but to remove their deformities,
not to reward their virtues, but to forgive their sin. Here's the miracle. The widow woman was poor and
needy. Our Lord was full of compassion. It always is towards those who
are poor in spirit. The son, our only son, was dead. What power. I say unto thee,
arise. Oh, who can speak like that?
God can. God can. Brethren, we have a compassionate
savior who delights in showing mercy toward his people. Let's pray. Our heavenly father,
thank you Thank you for the revelation that you've given us of the humanity
and compassion of Christ, of the experience that he had in
knowing the feelings of our infirmities and feeling the full weight of
sin as he did. Lord, might we be brought to
run quickly to the throne of grace to find help in our time of need. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. 33 on this file him. Now let's stand
together. Behold I come, our Savior said,
the Savior promised long. I come to do thy will, O God,
and thus our hope was born. Behold, the virgin has conceived
and born a son of flesh. His name is called Emmanuel. God dwells in human flesh. The angels left their high abode
to see this mystery. The great, almighty, sovereign
God A babe of feeble clay Mortals beheld His lovely face The Father's
only Son How full of truth, how full of grace Christ came to
save His own His spotless life of righteousness and sin-atoning
death Fulfill His Father's holy will and satisfy His wrath Our
glad Hosannas, Prince of Peace, your glory shall proclaim. Enthroned in heaven as our King,
we love to praise your name. Please be seated, just for a
second.