Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9. I'd like to read verses 32 through
the end of the chapter. As they went out, behold, they
brought to him a dumb man possessed with the devil. And when the devil was cast out,
the dumb spake, and the multitudes marveled, saying, It was never
so seen in Israel. But the Pharisees said, He casteth
out devils through the prince of the devils. And Jesus went
about. all the cities and villages teaching
in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and
healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But
when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on
them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep
having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples,
The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are Pray ye
therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers
into his harvest. Let's pray together. Our Father, this evening we thank
you for the indescribable pleasure
that we have to be able to be here. Father, I ask would you
bless the Word. Oh, blessed Lord, I pray to the
salvation of the lost, to the comfort of your regenerated sheep,
especially for the glory of our blessed Savior. And these things
we ask for Christ's sake and in His name. Amen. I started driving over here a
little while ago, knowing what I was planning to preach. As I pulled out of my driveway,
there was a man and his wife walking down the road, just walking. I drove a little farther and
rounded the curve, and there was three people. Standing out
in the garden, just kind of working the garden. Then I saw two men working under
a car. Just doing a little mechanic
work, you know. Pulled out onto 250 and passed
numerous cars. Pulled into the parking lot.
And the thought that kept going through my mind was this, it's
by the grace of God that I want to be here. It's by the indescribable grace
of Almighty God that I would have a heart to want to come
and to hear. I would say that there's probably
no greater passage that expresses the heart of our Savior's tenderness
toward sinners than this. When he saw the multitudes, he
was moved with compassion on them. Now, this is the Son of Man. Now this is God Almighty, the
Word made flesh, having His heart expressed by the Holy Spirit
concerning the multitudes. What He saw with His eyes affected His heart. This is the
surety Himself. The one that the Father had eternally
entrusted the redemption and salvation of His elect moved with compassion. That's
what Scripture says. Now, believers know in part,
we don't know everything there is concerning God's sovereignty
in creation, in providence, in salvation. And here is wisdom
himself. The Scriptures set forth, moved
with compassion. When we consider the Scriptures,
there are times that we are going to behold our Lord in His absolute
deity. And then we are going to view
Him at times in His absolute humanity. Scripture speaks of
him at times when he was asleep in the boat. God Almighty who never sleeps. And the Lord Jesus Christ slept. God Almighty that says, if I
was hungry, I wouldn't tell you. And he hungered. Thirsty. I read this passage of Scripture
and my heart was just arrested at the tenderness of the Son
of Man. Now you have to understand something.
He lived before God Almighty perfectly, in absolute perfect obedience
before God Almighty in our stead. And what he felt and what he
did The Father charged us. The tenderness of our Lord. He
was moved with compassion. Someone would say, well, I just
can't reconcile that with God's sovereignty. Well, don't try
to. If the Scripture says He was
moved with compassion, on the multitudes, then this is what
it means. He was moved with compassion on the multitudes. And may the
Lord keep us from trying to make this passage say less than it
does. May we be moved to emulate His
compassion. Being convinced by the Spirit
of God of the Lord's sovereignty in electing redeeming, regenerating
and sustaining grace never removes the believer's heart or their
desire to see men drawn to Christ. I know, I know what the average
person says concerning that which we believe concerning salvation. They say, you know what, you
people try to hem him people in so tightly that they just
can't get in. You just make it all so narrow
that they just, you know. No. This is what we believe. We believe what the Spirit of
God said in Revelation. Whosoever will, let him come.
Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.
I know, and you do too, I know what Scripture says concerning
man, his rebellion. I know exactly what the Scripture
says concerning man's depravity. He's dead. He's a rebel against
God, and I know that. You do too. But let me tell you what will
keep a man out of heaven. Man's own will to resist God. And the only thing that will
keep a man out of hell is God's will to show grace and mercy
and compassion to helpless sinners. I know. I know somewhat about
what a man is. And I know that if God Almighty
doesn't do something for him, I know, I know that God's going
to deal with him in absolute justice. I know that. But I will tell you this, it
does not change the fact that our hearts are broken for those
that oppose themselves. You that have children, parents,
spouses, let me ask you this. Can you look upon them and not
have absolute pity from the very depth of your heart? Is your
heart not broken because of their rebellion against our Savior?
The Scripture sets forth that our Lord had compassion on those. They fainted, scattered abroad
as sheep having no shepherd. Believers bow to God's right
to show mercy to whomsoever He will. And believers are moved
with compassion to those that oppose Him and themselves. I pray that God have mercy on
my children, on my grandchildren, on your kids, on your husbands,
on your wives, for those that don't know Him. This is the heart that a believer
has spiritually. Just like when Esther said concerning
the deliverance of the Jews from the hatred of Haman, this is
what she said, How can I endure? How can I endure to see the destruction
of my kindred? How can I endure to see the destruction
of my kindred? Every time I hear about someone
that passed away, that's the first thing I think of. Did that
person leave this world without a substitute, without a Savior? Did they give any evidence whatsoever,
scripturally speaking, concerning a believer's heart for the Lord
Jesus Christ? I'd like for us to look this
evening at what God Almighty has to say concerning that which
we do concerning those that are lost. This is what the Scriptures
has to say. Number one, pray for them. Paul said in Romans 10, 1, Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. Now let me ask you something.
Is that the language of a sovereign grace preacher? Is that the language
of one that knew something about God's sovereign grace? That was
Paul the Apostle that said that. He sure is. Absolutely. Those who are unmoved by perishing
souls do not have the mind of Christ. The Scripture says the
Lord Himself was moved with compassion. And we try to sit here and dissect
that you know, analyze it and all it and try to make it fit
entirely. You know, the Scripture said
he was moved with compassion. My heart's desire. I know that Almighty God has
a remnant according to the election of grace and being unconscious
of who they are. You know what we do? We ask and
we seek and we knock. for the salvation of those that
are lost. One might say, but isn't the
Lord going to do that which pleases Him? Absolutely. He said, My
counsel is going to stand. I will do all My pleasure. Ezekiel 36.26 says, A new heart
also will I give you, a new spirit will I put within you, I'll take
away the stony heart out of your flesh. I'll give you a heart
of flesh. Then he said in verse 37, Thus saith the Lord God,
I will, yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to
do it for them. Yes, we pray because we are commanded
to. But when Almighty God gives us
a new heart, we want to. Paul said, my heart's desire. Prayer is the activity of the
heart of a petitioner, a suppliant that asks and appeals to God
Almighty. I know that He's the only one. Men might say that But prayer,
how can prayer do anything? What does our Lord pray? The Scripture says, often all
night long, the Lord of glory. Prayer is the Lord's means of
glorifying Himself. We come before Him and we ask. When my kids were growing up,
I was going to take care of them. But I'll tell you this, it was
honoring to me if they came and appealed to my ability or my
strength or my knowledge. We pray with a consideration
of His will being done. We always ask in the name of
our Lord and Savior being convinced that He's going to do That which
pleases Him. Prayer. Prayer. What can I do? I can pray for
Him. I can appeal to Him. The Lord
said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that
he may sift you as wheat. Now, here's the Lord of glory.
who can do whatsoever He pleases. And He humbled Himself and made
Himself of no reputation, made like unto His brethren, made
like unto us, flesh and blood. The only difference, no sin in
Him. The Lord Himself who spoke this
world into existence. who oppose all things by the
word of his power, all power in heaven and earth given unto
him, Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you, that he
may sift you as wheat. But I prayed for you. I prayed for you that your faith
fail not. concerning those that the Father
gave the Lord Jesus Christ out of the world. He says, I pray
for them. He prayed to His Father, humbled
Himself. He said, I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest
keep them from the evil. Here is the Lord of glory praying
for His own. What can I do for those that
we have compassion on? You can pray for them. If you truly believe that your
loved ones are going to hell, unless God Almighty does something
for them, you'll pray for them. You'll ask them. You'll call
their names. Lord, this is my boy. This is
my girl. Lord, these are my grandkids.
Lord, this is my wife, my husband. Lord, would you have mercy? The
second thing we can do, we can invite them to come and hear
the Gospel. After our Lord spoke with the
woman of Samaria at the well, the Scripture says, she left
her water pot and went her way into the city and saith to the
men, Come see a man which told me all things that ever I did.
Is not this the Christ? The Scripture says that Andrew
Simon Peter's brother found Simon and said unto him, We found the
Messiah. And he brought him to Jesus.
That's what Scripture says. The next day following, the Lord
found Philip and said to him, Follow me. And Philip found Nathanael
and said to him, We found him of whom Moses in the law and
the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him,
Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith
unto him, Come and see. I wrote a letter to my brother
about a year ago, and this is what I asked him to do. I said,
There's a man about 45 minutes from where you are, only one
I know of in Louisiana, that's preaching the gospel. Would you
just go sit and listen? That's all I'm going to ask you
to do. Just go. Just go. I thought about that letter.
I thought about that letter so many times. And I thought about
what Brother Henry said one time. He said, if you really want to
say something, he said, sit down and write him a letter. He said,
give you some time to think it through. Organize your thoughts.
Give them an opportunity to read it again. I pray he'll listen. We know that the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation. Therein,
the Scripture says, is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. I know that men are not converted
under a false gospel. Ask them to come. Won't you come? Won't you come visit with us?
I found, by and large, that that's really the better way than trying
to sometimes talk to them and convince them. They'll ask you
questions. You'll be trying to remember
where Scripture is. It's not going to come to you,
and you'll be frustrated, and they will too. Just invite them
to come. They'll want you to come. That's
what these did in the Scriptures. That's what the woman at Samaria
The whale did. That's what she did. That's what
Nathaniel did. That's what Philip did. Come
and see. Come see. And while we're inviting them
to come, walk before them, the Scripture sets forth in modest
conduct. This is the Scripture, 1 Peter
3, 1 and 2. Likewise, you wives, be in subjection
to your own husbands. that if any obey not the word,
they also may without the word be won by thy conversation of
the wives, while they behold your chaste conversation coupled
with fear." Brother Henry made this comment on that passage.
He said, when the unbelieving partner observes the modest conduct
of his spouse, along with her love for and faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, Together with a reverence for her husband's authority,
he will be impressed and may be led to seek the Lord." Who
knows? Maybe the Lord might have compassion.
But that's God's command. That's God's Word. Turn over
there to Matthew 5, 13-16. Matthew 5, concerning our walk. Matthew 5.13, you are the salt
of the earth. But if the salt have lost its
savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good
for nothing but to be cast out, to be trodden underfoot of men.
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill
cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle
and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth
light unto all that are in the house. So shine before men that
they may see your good works and glorify, not you, not you,
but your Father which is in heaven." Walk before men, striving to
walk in obedience, consistency before the Lord. You can pray
for them. You can invite them. Ask them
to come. And here is the third and last
thing. we can wait on the Lord. Psalm 40, verse 1, I waited patiently
for the Lord, and He inclined unto me and heard my cry. Oh, what a promise that the Lord
God Almighty hears the prayer of His people. Now that Scripture
right there was in particular concerning our blessed Savior. I know that. These are the words
of the Lord Jesus who, by faith, continued to wait and expect
of His Father. And I know that as the Father
hears His petition, for Christ's sake, He hears the petitions
of His people. We have God's Word on this when
you pray. Enter into your closet. The Father
which hears in secret will reward you openly. But as we pray and
as we invite, the only thing we can do is wait on the Lord. I know this. I know I can't convert
somebody. I can't give a new heart. But
I will say this, waiting by faith exhibits our trust in His goodwill
and pleasure. I realize that there's no one
that can help but Him. There's no method, man-made method,
Roman roads and trying to convince people and to make you, I know
that. I know that we have help in one. I know that based on the Word
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself had compassion on the
multitudes. God keep me from not. I know the Lord Jesus Christ
prayed for His own, prayed for His Father's will, sought Him
in petition. Oh, God keep us. from sinning
against the Lord by not praying for one another. Ask Him in prayer. Invite men
to come and wait on God Almighty. And I tell you what He is going
to do. He is going to do whatsoever He is pleased to do. May the
Lord bless these words to our heart. Give us understanding. Those that are in our families
and our midst, as they cross your mind, pray for them, invite
them to come and say, well, they won't. This is the only place that there's
any hope. Who knows? Maybe the Lord might give them
a heart to come. There's some that I know that
I'm convinced. There's some that I know that
long since after the one that cared for him, prayed for him,
passed away. Now the fruit of God's good pleasure
has been seen. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart. Lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge
Him. He is going to direct your path. Amen.