Well, let us turn to God's Word,
and turning to the chapter we were reading in Matthew 9, and
I want to direct you to the last three verses of the chapter.
In Matthew chapter 9, reading verses 36, 37, and 38. It's a chapter of course full
of many miracles, But then we read here at the end of the chapter
concerning Christ, but when he saw the multitudes, he was moved
with compassion on them, because they fainted and were scattered
abroad, the sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples,
the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labors are few. Pray
ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth
labourers into his harvest. Taking then these three verses,
Matthew 9, verse 36 through 38, for our text this morning, and
to say something with regards to Christ, as we see Him there
moved with compassion. Christ moved with compassion. and then in many ways declaring
that he is the Lord of the harvest. He says there at the beginning
of verse 37, the harvest truly is plenteous as he looks in compassion
upon all the multitude of people that are round and about him. I want us to consider then these
two things this morning. First of all, the way in which
the Lord Jesus Christ is moved, as we're told here in verse 36. And then those things that the
Lord says with regards to ministry to the multitudes here in verses
37 and 38. As he is moved, so he speaks of what is to be done
and the method that is to be followed in order that compassion
might be had upon all these many sinners. First of all, we look
then at what it is that moves the Lord Jesus, his motivation. The opening words of the text,
when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion and
the verb that we have here to move is derived from a noun that
has reference to the inward parts of a man the vital organs we
might say his heart, his liver, his lungs and so forth it refers
to that that is really the seat of all his emotions This is where
Christ is touched. He's touched in his innermost
being as a man as he witnesses these many people who around
about him and throughout the chapter as we read it you will
have observed he is ministering all the time performing remarkable
miracles healing the sick, giving sight to the blind and a tongue
to the dumb and so on. that the Lord Jesus Christ is
one who is very much moved. In all of this emotion that is
in the opening words of this 36th verse, we see something
of the reality of the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Doesn't
Paul tell us time and again in the epistle to the Hebrews, we
have not a high priest which cannot be touched. with the feeling
of our infirmities, but was tempted in all points like as we are
yet without seeing. Oh, He is One who is touched
with all our infirmities. He knows what our infirmities
are. He knows nothing about many sinful infirmities, but those
sinless infirmities that belong to our humanity. and he is a
real man who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up
prayer and supplication with strong crying and tears unto
him that was able to save him from death he was heard says
the apostle there to the Hebrews he was heard in that he feared
oh he has something of that true fear of God in his heart as a
real man and We see it in the hymn that we
often sing, that remarkable hymn number 23 in the book. It's dealing,
of course, with the truth of the human nature of the Lord
Jesus, a man there is, a real man. And we have that verse in
the hymn, that human heart he still retains, though thrown
in highest bliss and fills. each tempted member's pains for
our afflictions his. He still is able in his glorified
human nature to feel for us in all those trials, those troubles
that come into our lives. He knew real human emotions did
the Lord Jesus Christ and we see it in a sense so remarkably
when we witness the death of Lazarus there in the 11th chapter
of John and how the Lord was much attached to that family
at Bethany Lazarus and Mary and Martha and Lazarus had died and
there are the grieving sisters and how the Lord comes into that
scene and we see him so touched we're told aren't we how he groaned
He groaned in spirit, he was troubled in his own soul as he
beheld the mourning scene there. And then we have that shortest
of all the words, all the verses in Holy Scripture, just two words,
Jesus wept. What a text is that? The weeping
of the Lord Jesus. His face, as it were, besmirched
with tears as he sees the lamenting people and the grieving sisters
the Lord has a real emotional life and we see it here when
he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion again it's
that groaning within himself as he beholds the sea and what
is it that he observes here Well, he sees really the vastness of
the work that lies before him in a sense. The harvest truly
is plenteous, he says. There are multitudes here, and
they are to be ministered to. There must be a labouring. And
this is the scene that really serves as a real incentive to
the Lord Jesus. We find something similar in
John's Gospel, there in the fourth chapter of John and verses 34
and 35. He says in verse 34, My meat
is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. There is a work that the Father
has sent him to accomplish. And then in the next verse we
find him saying, Say not ye there are yet four
months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, lift
up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they are white already
to harvest. Lord, the Father has sent him,
you see. sent him to accomplish a great work, a great work of
redemption. And we see the connection here
between the Father sending him and the scene that he is beholding
all about him. There are multitudes. And what
sort of a condition are they in? Oh, they need one to come
and to minister to them in all their great need. And this is
the work that he is called to fulfill. the outworking of that
great eternal purpose of salvation for sinful humanity. Remember how the Apostle again
in that Hebrew epistle can say that it was the joy that was
set before him that helped him to endure to the end and to accomplish
all that work that the Father had committed to his child who
for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and he sat down at the right hand of the throne
of God. Now we see him at times agonizing
in his own soul. We were reminded yesterday in
the service at Hagen of that word agony, that she was just
once in the scriptures And it's used of course in reference to
the Lord Jesus Christ as he comes to the end of his work. There's
that work that the Father has given and he must accomplish
it to the bitter end. And there in the garden he contemplates
that obedience unto the death of the cross and being in an
agony. Being in an agony he prayed more earnestly and his sweat
like drops of blood falling down to the ground or the travail
that the Lord knew the things that he feels in his own human
soul he is to see the travail of his soul and he shall be satisfied
he is labouring as it were always when he saw the multitudes he
is moved with compassion and what does he say to his disciples
the harvest truly is plenteous but the labourers are few Who
will minister to these needy millions? Well, the Lord Jesus
Christ has come to save sinners. But those who are commissioned
to preach his gospel, they must also be laborers in this remarkable
field. Ministers are to labor. And he
mentions the laborers twice, doesn't he? Here in verse 37
and again in verse 38. The libras are few, he says.
Proudly, therefore, the Lord of the harvest that he will send
forth libras into his harvest. And again, it's interesting to
examine the word that's being used here because it literally
refers to those who would be libring in the fields, workmen,
those who doing arduous work, toiling, in ploughing the ground,
in sowing the seed, in reaping the harvest, all that effort
that must have been required in those days when there was
not the modern machinery that we are so familiar in these days.
Day labourers, there, working in the fields, And that's the
word that's used with regards, of course, to those who are to
be ministers of the Word of God. It's the same word that is used
by the apostle when we come to those pastoral epistles that
he addresses to Timothy and to Titus. Those young men who are
called to that work of the ministry of the Word of God writing there
in 1 Timothy 5.17, they who labour, he says, in word and in doctrine.
All the man is to labour in the Word of God if he's going to
faithfully preach the Word of God, if he's going to rightly
divide the Word of God. He must know what it is to read
the Word of God, to meditate in the Word of God, to search
the Word of God, to study the Word of God. Just as the labourer
in the fields must give himself to that hard task that's before
him. Again, in the second epistle
to Timothy, Paul says, Study to show thyself approved unto
God, a workman, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly
dividing the word of truth. Rightly dividing the word. Breaking
the word up as it were. in order that that word might
be rightly expanded and explained and so that people might understand
and be able to feed upon that word of truth. This is the library
in order that there might be a ministry to those multitudes
who Christ witnesses and is filled with such compassion towards. But it's not just ministers.
Surely it's all the people of God, all God's children in a
sense are to be his labourers. That's a labour in prayer, that's
a labour in godly living, that's a labour in witnessing, witnessing
to the truth of the word of God. Remember how the Lord exhorts
that we let our light shine before man. that they may see our good
works and glorify our Father which is in heaven. That's how
the light of the Gospel shines when we are those who are concerned
to do good works, those works that follow where there is real
spiritual life, where there is that real work of regeneration,
that new birth. By their fruit ye shall know
them. But the glory belongs to God. because Christ says from
me is thy fruit found left to ourselves with poor barren souls
but know the exhortation is there we are to let our light so shine
that men see our good works the works of God and they glorify
our Father which is in heaven. Remember the words that we have
at the end of that great 15th chapter In 1 Corinthians, be
ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in
the Lord. That's an exhortation, and it's
an exhortation that's given to a church. It's given to the church
at Corinth. But it's given to every church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, because it's part and parcel of God's Word in Holy
Scripture. It's given to us, steadfast,
unmovable, always abounding in the works of the Lord. Why such
labour is not in vain in the Lord. And of course we have that
most gracious, reassuring word that we find in the psalm. The language of the psalm is
there in Psalm 126. they that sow in tears shall
reap in joy, he that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious
seeds shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his
sheaves with him. All these are those who are labouring
then in this great harvest field. The Lord sees the remarkable
scale, the size of this great work, when he saw the multitude,
He was moved with compassion. And what does he say? The harvest
truly is plentiful, but the labors are few. Pray ye therefore, the
Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labors into his
harvest. But considering something more
of what it is that so moves the Lord Jesus Christ, it's not only
the vastness of the scale of this work. It's also the state
of those who are to be ministered to. He's moved with compassion because
they fainted, it says, they fainted and were scattered abroad as
sheep having no shepherds. Now, the word fainted You may
have an alternative reading in the margin to the effect that
the word means harassed or distressed. But looking that particular word
up I discover that it's derived from another verb that means
to skin or to fly or to rent. There's something happening here
you see. There's a reason why they're fainting, they're distressed,
they're harassed. They've been skinned, they've
been flayed, they've been rended. What are we to make then of these
things? Well, I think there's a word that we find back in the
Old Testament that is surely of some help. In Isaiah 18 and
verse 7, we find this statement, in that time, That's an interesting
opening expression, of course, in that time, when we find it
there in the Old Testament, in the Prophets, it is referring
to a certain time. What is that time? Well, it's
the last time. It's the last days. It's the
Day of Grace that is spoken of in that fashion, in the Prophets. Isaiah 18.7, in that time, in
the Gospel day, shall the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts
of a people scattered and peeled. And I think that helps us really
to understand the condition of these people. They fainted. Or they were so distressed, they
were scattered abroad, the sheep having no shepherds. Who are
these? These are the outcasts. These
are the outcasts. Lord pity outcasts. vile and
base, the poor dependents on thy grace, whom men disturb as
call, by sinner and by saintly stood, for these too bad, for
those too good, condemned and shunned by all." And you see
these people, they're those whom the Pharisees would skin and
scatter. These are those that the Pharisees
despise other sinners. How early in the chapter they
are rebuking the Lord through His disciples. Why is He sitting there in the
house of Matthew, the publican, the tax-gatherer? Why is He there
sitting with that man and others who are publicans and sinners? Oh, how these Pharisees, you
see, they're so opposed to the Lord, they're so opposed to those
who are His followers, those whom He has come to minister
to. Even here, you see, just previous
to our text, the Lord performs another miracle.
The dumb man possessed with the devil. The Lord cast out the
devil, the dumb man speaks, the multitudes marvel, saying it
was never so seen in Israel but the Pharisees. Oh, but the Pharisees,
what do they say? 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 now the Pharisees are so
opposed to him and all those that he's ministering to but
they're the ones you see would skin and scatter these poor people
are they not the signs that are spoken of in the Old Testament
remember that 34th chapter there in the book of the prophet Ezekiel
where as God's mouthpiece the prophet has to rebuke the shepherds
of Israel, the false shepherds, those who were falling so far
short of their calling, the false prophets and the self-serving
priests and the wicked princes and kings The word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds
of Israel. Prophesy and say unto them, Thus
saith the Lord God unto the shepherds, Woe be to the shepherds of Israel
that do feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed
the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool.
Ye kill them that are fed, but ye feed not the flock. The diseased
have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was
sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither
have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have
ye sought that which was lost. But with force and with cruelty
have ye ruled them, and they were scattered, because there
is no shepherd. And they became meat to all the
beasts of the field, when they were scattered. All those wicked
men and the Pharisees were like that. They were scattering the
people. Of course, in that 34th chapter,
God goes on to promise that He will yet come and He will find
His sheep. Verse 11, Thus saith the Lord
God, Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek
them out. And so He came to pass, of course,
He comes to pass with the coming of the Lord Jesus. I will set
up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant
David. He shall feed them, and he shall
be their shepherd, and I, the Lord, will be their God, and
my servant David, a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken
it. Oh, the Lord Jesus is that one
who will minister to these poor scattered sheep. and He will
gather them even unto Himself. When He saw the multitude, He's
moved. He's moved with compassion, because
they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep, having no shepherd. This is Christ's vision, is it
not? It's something that He sees. He beholds it with His eyes.
And you know where there's no vision, the people perish. Christ
has a vision, he sees them exactly as they are. We see it time and
again in the course of his ministry when he makes that final journey
to Jerusalem. And he arrives and he looks down
upon the city. The language that we have there
in the end of Luke 19, when he was come near he beheld the city
and wept over it. saying, If thou hadst known even
thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto
thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes. And it's interesting
when the Lord there looking upon the city, the holy city, Jerusalem,
Jerusalem the golden, weeping over it, It's interesting what
is said in this Gospel, in Matthew's Gospel, where we have a description
of that same scene in chapter 23, and the language that we
find at the end of that particular chapter. Verse 37, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent
unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together
even as a hen gathereth her children under her wings and ye would
not now it's interesting isn't it
because we have the we have the third person and
the second person he is speaking very much of Jerusalem and he
uses the third person till we come to the very end of the verse
he's speaking of Jerusalem where the prophets were killed where
the prophets were also stoned, stoned to death how often would
I have gathered thy children together he says but then at
the end he says and he would not, he uses the second person
He is speaking really to scribes and Pharisees. He's doing that
throughout the whole chapter. He speaks to these and he pronounces
terrible woes upon the scribes and the Pharisees right throughout
the chapter. Verse 13 for example, Woe unto
you! Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,
for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for ye neither
go in yourselves, neither sutter ye them that are entering to
go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make
long prayers, therefore ye shall receive the greater condemnation. woe upon woe upon woe as he addresses
the scribes and pharisees and here he is at the end you see
speaking of Jerusalem it's the scribes and the pharisees that
he speaks of as those who would not have him minister
to such sinners he would gather them together
as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings Oh, but the scribes,
the Pharisees, they weren't of that. They'd oppose Him at every
turn. The difference between the Lord
Jesus and these men who were, of course, the religious leaders
amongst the Jews, the scribes and the Pharisees, they were
the men that the people were looking to. Just as in the Old
Testament, there in that 34th chapter of Ezekiel, they would
look to the to the prophets, but they were false prophets.
Men who were saying, peace, peace, when there was no peace. And
Jeremiah speaks of those false prophets. They would look to
the priest, and yet there were wicked priests who were only
concerned for themselves, those wicked sons of the high priest
Eli. And there were those wicked kings,
those princes who worshipped idols well it was true in the Old Testament
it was true in the New Testament but the Lord Jesus comes as that
one who is the good shepherd the good shepherd of the sheep
now is it that these multitudes are to be ministered to? well
the Lord speaks of two things doesn't he here really We see
one quite clearly in verses 37 and 38, the great necessity of
prayer, and then in what follows in chapter 7, we also see the
importance of the ministry of the Word, the preaching of the
Gospel. And so as we draw to a close, let's just consider
these two manners of working that the Lord speaks of. First
of all there is very much a primacy here on prayer. The labourers are few and the
Lord says, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that
he will send forth labourers into his harvest. You see when
we come to pray we're recognizing here the need of God and the
sovereignty of God in these things. He is the Lord of the harvest. He is the Lord of the harvest. And that's stated quite plainly
there in that 38th verse. He is the one that we address,
the Lord, the Sovereign God. When speaking of himself as the
true vine, remember in John 15, Christ says, my father is the
husbandman. And how this husbandman, this
farmer, this one who is the Lord of the harvest, how sovereign
he is. You know, God determines where
his gospel will be preached. God determines where the Gospel
is to be preached. It will be preached here, but
it's not being preached there. And we have a remarkable example
of that, of course, in the Acts of the Apostles. And what we're
told concerning Paul and the Macedonian call that's recorded
there in that 16th chapter of Acts. In Acts 16, and verse 7 following we have this detail given by
Luke writing of course under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he's speaking of Paul and his
ministry verse 7 he says they will come after they will come
to Mycaea they assayed to go into Bithynia but the Spirit
suffered them not. They were minded to go to Bithynia
preaching the gospel, but the Spirit suffered them not. And
they, passing by Mysia, came down to Troas, and a vision appeared
to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia,
and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and help
us. And after we had seen the vision,
immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly
gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto
them." Paul understands what the Lord is doing. The Lord is
sovereign with regards to where the gospel is to be preached.
I think if I'm right, There's a remarkable sermon in Dr. Owen,
John Owen's works, on that very passage of scripture, the Macedonian
call, and he makes that point very strongly that the Lord determines,
in his sovereignty, as the Lord of the harvest, just where the
gospel is to be preached. Well, we know from history that
in his goodness and in his mercy, God greatly favoured these islands,
the British Isles. In England, in Scotland, in Ireland,
in Wales, there was a great preaching, there has been a great preaching
of the Gospel in times of great awakening. God has had a favour,
the lions have fallen unto us in pleasant places, the Psalmist
says, we have a good heritage, how true it is. But that doesn't
mean that God will always favour us with the Gospel. Maybe God's
judgment will come upon us in a terrible way and we'll be denied
the Gospel at some stage. Who knows? We have to pray and
plead. Pray the Lord of the harvest
to send labourers into this harvest field here in England. The Lord
determines where this Gospel is to be preached. And of course
it's the Lord who ordains when it will be prosperous. the prophet doesn't he, Isaiah
55 you know the passage there I'm sure and he speaks of the
rain and the snow coming down from the heavens as the rain
cometh down and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither
but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it
may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater so shall my
word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return
unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. It is the Lord who
must make the blessed application and cause his word to be a fruitful
word, but it will be at last to some the savour of death unto
death, and to others the savour of life unto life. And I was
struck, I mean I've been struck before, but again today as we
sang our opening praise, our paraphrase of Psalm 122. And what brings it out? Verse 4,
he hears our praises and complaints and while his awful voice, you
know, the awe, it's the idea of reverence in that voice. It's the old-fashioned meaning
of the word awful. And while His awful voice divides
the sinners from the saints, we tremble and rejoice. The Saviour of death unto death
to some, the Saviour of life unto life to others. Who is sufficient
for these things? asked the Apostle. God must prosper
the world. He must anoint His words with
that gracious unction of the spirits to make it effectual
in the souls of sinners. Paul knew that. He ministered
the word of God. I have planted, he says. Apollos
watered, but God gave the increase. So then, neither he that planted
is anything, neither he that watered, but God. That gave us
the increase. Oh, it's all to the honor and
the glory of God. The harvest is gathered. The
harvest is gathered and it's all to His ultimate praise. You are God's husbandry, says
the Apostle. God's husbandry. It's for His
glory. For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things
to whom be glory forever. The importance in of the prayers,
looking to God. Pray the Lord of the harvest.
He can only prosper His Word. He sends it where He will and
He blesses that Word when He will. And we have to continually
wait upon Him in our prayers that the blessing might fall
upon the Word ministered. And then finally there's the
importance of preaching. It follows in the next chapter
really. There's no Real division is between the chapters, we know
that. The division into chapters and verses is good and useful
to us, but obviously the account continues in the next chapter. When he had called unto his twelve
apostles, he gave them power against unclean spirits to cast
them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of
disease. Why, he's already acting, you see. in answer to those things
that he'd been saying at the end of the previous chapter.
And we have the name of the twelve apostles. Verse 5, these twelve,
Jesus sent forth and commanded them, saying, Go not into the
way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans, enter
ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,
and as ye go, preach. Preach, saying, the kingdom of
heaven is at hand, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers. But the primacy
of the preaching, all there has to be is the preaching of the
Word of God. Next to prayer, how vital that
ministry of the Word is. You know in Acts 6, where we
have the roots of the office of the deacon, In that early
church how the apostles were the sole functionaries they were
doing everything but now there's a matter arisen about distribution
to the widows and there's too much work for these men to do.
What do they do? We will give ourselves continually to prayer
and the ministry of the Word. That was their task to pray and
to preach. O pray ye therefore the Lord
of the harvest that he will send forth labors into his harvest. Again the verb that we have here
to send forth it's such a strong such a strong word really literally
to throw them out as it were to thrust them forth or they're
being constrained they're being constrained the love of Christ
constrained as I says the Apostle How shall they preach except
they be sent? Oh, it's the sovereignty of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And we have to look to Him and
we have to cry to Him that He will send forth labourers into
His harvest and that they'll be constrained by Him, by His
love, the love of Christ. That's the love of God, of course,
but it's also the love of God manifesting the flesh. That's
where we began, you see, the reality of his human nature.
He has real human emotions, the Lord Jesus, when he sees the
scene. It touches him in the depths
of his soul. And that's what's to constrain
us, that we know this One who is God and yet He is God manifest
in the flesh and He's touched with the feeling of all our infirmities.
And though He's one who can sympathize with us and help us and encourage
us. Oh the Lord then grant that we
might have such compassion as we see in the Lord Jesus Himself
when He saw the multitudes. He was moved with compassion
on them because they fainted and was scattered abroad as sheep,
having no shepherd. And what is the solution to this
prayer? Prayer and the preaching of the Word of God. For the Lord
then be pleased to bless His Word to us. For our good, for
His glory. Amen.