Let us turn again to the Word
of God, to the chapter that we read in the Gospel as recorded
by Matthew, chapter 9, and especially the first part of verse 36. The Gospel according to Matthew,
chapter 9, reading again verse 36. 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. When he saw the multitudes he
was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and
were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. really the
subject this morning is simply the compassion of the Lord Jesus. We see that compassion here.
He was moved with compassion on the multitude as he saw them,
moved with compassion And when you think about compassion, what
is compassion? Well, compassion is really a
feeling sorry for someone and having a desire to help them,
isn't it? When we have compassion on someone, we feel sorry for
them, we want to do something to help them. And we know that some people
are more compassionate than others. Some people are more sympathetic
than others. That's just the way we're made.
I'm not very sympathetic, I'm told sometimes. I'm more likely
to try and suggest a solution to the problem than to sympathise
with the person who's having it. Some people are just made
like that. But the Lord Jesus, when he sees
this multitude here, we see what kind of saviour he is. We see
what kind of Christ he is because he's moved with compassion. We
don't choose to be moved with compassion, do we? It's not something we decide
to do when we come across someone in trouble. Perhaps we're out
and we see someone who's crashed their car or had some other kind
of accident. or someone who's suddenly become
ill or come into some other kind of trouble, we don't decide to
be moved with compassion. It's something that just comes
to us. It shows something about the
kind of people that we are. And as I say, when we read these
words of the Lord Jesus, We see the kind of person he
was, the kind of Christ he is, the kind of saviour he is. He's
the kind of person that is moved with compassion. And we know
that he is ever the same. We read, don't we, that Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. And this
is our hope. And this is our only hope as
we come to the word of God this morning and as we gather together
around this word. that we are looking for that
same compassion as we see displayed here. There's a hymn, isn't there,
that one of the verses finishes by saying, compassion on us have,
we pray, and empty, send us not away. And that surely is what
we need and what we want as we gather together around the word
of God this morning. He was moved with compassion. Really, I want
to divide up what I say into these three headings. First of
all, to notice something of the condition of this crowd. Then
secondly, to speak about the compassion of Christ. And then
thirdly, to notice something about the cure for their condition,
because Jesus He's not helpless in the face of their need, is
he? It's not just that he feels sorry for them, but has to shrug
his shoulders and say, well, there's not much I can do about
it. His compassion leads him to do something. And so, as I
say in the third place, to notice something about the cure, and
perhaps it's a surprising cure, isn't it? For their condition. But first of all, look at this
crowd. this multitude. In the previous
verses we read about them. Look at the beginning of Chapter
8. You find Jesus coming down from the mountain. He's just
finished preaching the Sermon on the Mount. And even at the
beginning of that sermon in Chapter 5 we read about multitudes who
were there about him. seeing the multitudes he went
up into a mountain and when he was set his disciples came unto
him and he opened his mouth and taught them and then we have
the sermon on the mount all the way through chapters 5 and 6
and 7 and we read about the people being astonished at his doctrine
at the end of chapter 7 but then he comes down from the mountain
and great multitudes are following him. This great crowd of people
who it seems had perhaps been with him for some time. Then again in the 8th verse of
this 9th chapter we read about the multitudes. After Jesus has come back from
the country of the Gergesenes You read the end of chapter 8,
he goes over into the country of the Gurgasins to heal that
man who was possessed with devils. And then he returns and comes
back to his own city. And it seems the crowds return
and come around him. And they see him heal this man
who was paralyzed, this man who was sick of the palsy. He raises
him up and the multitudes are full of amazement. They marvel
and they glorify God. which has given such power unto
men. Then again in verse 20, we read
about this woman with the issue of blood and we know from the
other accounts of that miracle that she had to press through
the crowd to come to the Lord Jesus, didn't she? The crowd
was thronging him and pressing around him to the point that
you remember his disciples are amazed when he asks that question,
who has touched me? Here is this woman who comes
pressing through the crowd and in Mark's Gospel we read about her coming in the
press and touching the hem of his garment and Jesus turns around
and says, who touched my clothes? And the disciples say, well look
Jesus, there's a multitude thronging you. What do you mean who touched
me? All these people are touching
you. There was a great crowd about him. And that crowd would
have increased more and more, wouldn't it? As the fame of his
healing miracles went out abroad into all that land. We read about
the healing of this little maid. He goes in and takes her by the
hand and she rises from death. And the fame thereof goes abroad
into all that land. And then you read about the two
blind men. And he heals them and tells them not to tell anybody
but they don't listen and they go out and spread abroad his
fame. And no doubt, as these accounts were spoken of, more
and more people would have come together to hear the Lord Jesus
speak and to see his miracles. And so we read in verse 35 that
Jesus went about all the cities and villages and no doubt there
were those who would follow him. They gathered to hear. They gathered
to see his works. They gathered because they wanted
to be near him. But they were weary. They were fainting. You look
in the margin, you will see there's an alternative reading. When
it says they fainted and were scattered abroad, it could be
translated in this way. They were tired and lay down.
They were so tired that they could hardly go a step further,
it seems. They were so weary and Jesus
is moved with compassion. The fact that they were following
and the fact that they had this desire to be around the Lord
Jesus and to hear him, it didn't mean that they were exempt from
weariness. It didn't mean that they were
magically and miraculously sustained so that they never felt tired.
There's teaching there for us, isn't there? Don't we sometimes
imagine that when we become Christians, when we become followers of the
Lord Jesus, we sometimes think, well, life will be easy from
now on. You sometimes get people who preach like that. They say,
well, if you come to the Lord Jesus, it's almost as if you'll
never be tired again. You'll just be magically sustained
through all the troubles of life and they won't really touch you.
And you won't be tired, you won't get sick, you won't be poor anymore.
It's the kind of prosperity gospel that we see in some circles. But it's false, isn't it? Because
these people are following Christ. And they want to be around him.
They want to see him, they want to hear him. but they're fainting,
they're tired, they're lying down, they're so weary. No doubt there is a physical
element to their tiredness. And Jesus is moved with compassion
when he sees their weakness and their frailty, but surely There's
also something spiritual in their tiredness. Why is Jesus moved
with compassion? Well, these people, it says,
were like sheep having no shepherd. They were wandering. They were
so aimless. There seems to be nobody to provide
for them, nobody to care for them. Wasn't that so true of
the multitude in the days of Christ? Well, they had their
religious leaders, didn't they? They had the scribes and the
Pharisees and the priests and the rulers. But you remember
what Jesus had to say about them later on in this Gospel? Jesus says that they were quick
to bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne and to lay them on
men's shoulders. But they themselves, he says, will not move them with
one of their fingers. What did they get from the scribes and
the Pharisees and the religious leaders of the time? Well, the
multitude, really they were just told to do this and to do that. There was no rest in the religion
of those Jews and Pharisees. There was no refreshment. There
was no peace. The scribes and Pharisees, they
bind heavy burdens. They were quick to come up with
their rules, to multiply their traditions, weren't they? To
say, well, if you want to be right with God, you must do what
we say. Live the kind of life that we live. Keep our traditions. Typical of the Jews, really,
wasn't it? You see that so often back in the Old Testament. You
remember how it was in the days of Jeremiah, when Jeremiah comes
with his message of repentance, and he comes to the people and
he says, you Jews, you are the sons and daughters of Abraham,
but you're not living the life of Abraham. You're not living
by the faith of Abraham. You're keeping the traditions
that have been handed down to you, but your hearts are not
in it. And you've gone wrong. Well,
it was so similar in the days of Christ. how often the Lord Jesus has
to speak so sharply to the scribes and Pharisees. Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye shut up the kingdom of
heaven against men. They were not preaching the gospel
of salvation. They were not preaching of a
way of peace with God. They were preaching a religion
of works, a religion of traditions, a religion of doing and not doing. You must keep these traditions.
You must use this language. You must wear these clothes.
And unless you do those things, you're not really in the right
pathway. No wonder Jesus is moved with
compassion when he sees the multitude. That was the kind of leadership
that they had. That was the kind of religion that they had been
brought up in. No wonder they fainted. No wonder
they were scattered abroad. and so he is moved with compassion. Think of the Apostle Paul's experience. He was a man that knew some amazing
blessings, didn't he? Some amazing spiritual privileges. But when he writes about his
own experience, How does he describe it? He's writing to the Corinthians
there in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. And he talks about weariness. The Apostle Paul, again, he was
clearly a follower of the Lord Jesus, clearly a man of great
faith, of tremendous gifts, of wonderful privileges. But even
he has to speak of his weariness. Weariness, painfulness, watchings,
hunger, thirst, fastings, cold, nakedness. Just like this multitude, though
he is a follower of the Lord Jesus, yet that doesn't exempt
him from the weariness of life, from the burdens of life. Like sheep without a shepherd.
And Jesus could have solved this problem like that, couldn't he?
He could have miraculously given strength to this multitude. He
could have miraculously given strength to the Apostle Paul
so that Paul wouldn't have had to write about weariness and
painfulness. But he doesn't. We're not always
to be expecting miracles. We're not always to be expecting
remarkable and wonderful blessings. Sometimes that's not how the
Lord works. they fainted, were scattered
abroad, they were tired, they lay down, they were as sheep
having no shepherd, the condition of the crowd. But then, secondly,
look at the compassion of the Lord Jesus. You know, this expression
that we have here, moved with compassion, is really a translation
of a single word, in the Greek and it's a word that comes from
a word for the bowels. We sometimes, in our own language,
we talk about feeling something in the pit of our stomach, don't
we? And you know when you come across someone who is really
suffering, someone who has come into a great and unexpected trouble,
you feel it here, don't you? It's not so much something you
feel in the head, but you feel it in the bowels, in the pit
of your stomach. Move with compassion. It's as if the Lord Jesus suffers
with them. It's as if he's so close to them that what they
suffer, he feels. As they come to this time when
they faint, are weary, tired, as they lie down, as they can't
go any further, they're not alone in this. The Lord Jesus, he feels
it with them and he is moved with compassion. It's a common
expression, a common phrase when we read about the Lord Jesus
Christ. You can't get away from seeing that he is a compassionate
saviour, that he is a compassionate Christ. Look at what it says
in chapter 14 of this same gospel. It's another occasion where Jesus
sees a great multitude. This is just after the execution
of John the Baptist and Jesus hears about this and he departs
by ship into a desert place and the people follow him. There's
an attraction in him, isn't there? There's an attraction in his
teaching. We read about, we noticed how they are amazed at his doctrine
at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. There was something in
his words that attracted these people. And they follow him even
as he goes into the desert place. And it says in chapter 14, verse
14, Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude and again he
is moved with compassion toward them. And then just in the next
chapter, in chapter 15, Jesus goes up again into a mountain. Chapter 15, verse 30, great multitudes
came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind,
dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus'
feet, and he healed them. And Jesus called his disciples
unto him in verse 32 and said, I have compassion on the multitude.
I am moved with compassion on this multitude. They continue
with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I will not
send them away fasting lest they faint in the way he is moved
with compassion. In this, he's like his father. Children often are like their
fathers, aren't they? Sometimes for better, sometimes
for worse. And Jesus is very much like his father. When you
read through the book of Psalms, I think it's five times you'll
come across that expression where the Lord is described as full
of compassion. Full of compassion. That's a strong expression, isn't
it? It doesn't say he has some compassion, but it says he's
full of it. It's as if he couldn't have more
of it. This was the psalmist's hope,
wasn't it? So often the psalmist encourages
himself by thinking about the compassion of God. You can think
about so many of the psalms, the psalmist looks back to the
way in which the Lord dealt with the Israelites and he encourages
himself by remembering how he led them through the wilderness. Look at Psalm 106. Praise ye the Lord, says the
psalmist, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. For his
mercy endureth forever. It's the same idea, isn't it?
His compassion. And he speaks about how the Israelites
were brought out of Egypt, brought through the Red Sea. How despite
all their sins on their 40-year journey through the wilderness,
the Lord still sustains them and upholds them and provides
for them. It's a psalm, isn't it, that 106th psalm, which is
full of the sins of the people and the long-suffering of the
Lord. Many times did he deliver them,
but they provoked him with their counsel and were brought low
for their iniquity nevertheless. There's always a nevertheless,
isn't there? Nevertheless he regarded their affliction when
he heard their crying. You can think about the way in
which the Lord brought them through the wilderness. It's a wonderful
thing to think about, isn't it? What did they eat for those 40
years? They ate manna, didn't they?
They didn't have to plant, they didn't have to sow, they didn't
have to work the fields or harvest the crops. But for 40 years they were miraculously
sustained with manna, the bread that came down from heaven. They didn't just get that manna
on the days when they'd been particularly well behaved the
day before, but the manna came. even after the sin of the golden
calf, for example. When Aaron makes the golden calf
and the people begin to worship, it was a great sin. Moses says
this people have sinned a great sin and yet the manna still falls
because he's compassionate, because he's merciful. because he's long-suffering. The children of Israel, it says,
at the end of Exodus chapter 16, the children of Israel did
eat manna 40 years until they came to a land inhabited. Morning
by morning, new mercies were seen, weren't they? And you can
trace through the whole of the Old Testament, really, and it's
just this, isn't it? It's a record of the compassion
of God, of the long-suffering of God, And Jesus is just like
his father. Look at some of the parables
that he speaks. They speak of forgiveness, don't
they? They speak of blessings that
are undeserved. Think of that parable of the
10,000 talent debtor. It's here in chapter 18 of Matthew's
Gospel. That man comes with his 10,000
talent debt and you can do the maths and work out how much money
that would be in our modern day equivalent. What the Lord Jesus
really is saying is it was a debt that could never be repaid. 10,000 talents in those days
it was so much that it might as well have been infinity. And this man has nothing to pay.
It's not that he's got 9,999 talents. But he's got nothing. But we have the same expression,
don't we, in verse 27. When the servant falls down and
worships the man to whom he owes this great debt. The Lord of that servant is moved
with compassion. He is moved with compassion.
The Lord Jesus is, what's he saying? He's saying to those
around him that this is what his father is like. This is the
kind of God that he is. He's moved with compassion and
he loses that servant and forgives him all that debt. He gives that servant far more
than he asks for, doesn't he? What does the servant want? What
does the servant pray for? It's a foolish prayer really,
isn't it? The servant comes and says, have patience with me and
I will pay thee all. There was no chance of him ever
paying all that debt. But it's as if this is as much
as the servant can ask for. He doesn't think it's reasonable
to ask any more. Can't we be like that? Don't
we sometimes come before the Lord in our prayers and we ask
for such small things? Sometimes perhaps we become conscious
of our sin and we say, well, give me another chance. Give
me a few more years, I'll do better. That's what this servant
is asking for. Have patience with me, I'll pay
thee all. Give me a bit more time. If you'd gone to the servant
that morning and said to him, why don't you ask for your debt
to be forgiven? What do you think the servant
would have said? He would have said, well, that's too big a
thing. It's unreasonable to expect something that large. The most
that I can expect is patience, a bit more time. He gets far more than he asks
for. The Lord of that servant is moved with compassion and
looses him and forgives him the debt. This is what my father
is like, says the Lord Jesus. How the Pharisees have failed
to understand this. They thought that they needed
to try and work their way up into God's favour, didn't they?
They thought to themselves, well, perhaps if we try extremely hard
and keep these traditions and do these things, perhaps we'll
manage to persuade God to love us. They hadn't begun to understand
what God was like. Again, it's the same message
in the parable of the prodigal. He also receives far more than
he asks for. He comes back to his father's
house asking just to be made a hired servant. As if he would
say, well, it would be unreasonable to ask my father to receive me
as a son again. But maybe he'll receive me as
a hired servant and I'll have bread enough to eat, just enough
to keep me alive. And so he returns to the house
of his father. But what does the father say?
The father says to him, in effect, I don't want a servant. I'm not looking for servants.
I'm looking for my son. And before the son has even had
the chance to ask his question and to make his request, that
the father is calling back to his servants to bring the best
robe and a ring for his hand and shoes for his feet. And Jesus
says, this is what my father is like. There is joy in heaven
over sinners that repent. Joy in the presence of the angels
of God over one sinner that repented. He is full of compassion. He
is a merciful, he is a long-suffering God, and he is still the same. He is moved with compassion today. When he saw the multitudes, he
was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted and
were scattered abroad as sheep, having no shepherd. Well, if
he's moved with compassion, if that's the kind of Christ he
is, what an encouragement for us
to come to him when we are fainting, when we are tired, when we are
weary, when we feel like lying down. Sometimes we come into situations
like that and we say, well, it's no use praying now. I'll wait
till I feel better. Perhaps we've fallen into some
sin again. And we say to ourselves, well,
it doesn't seem right to pray now. I'll try and do better tomorrow
and then perhaps I'll be in a position to pray. But when we reason like
that, when we think like that, we forget that he is full of
compassion. that he is moved with compassion,
that he is full of pity, full of a desire to help, still the
same, yesterday, today, forever. If you do better tomorrow, it's
not going to make him more full of compassion. If you manage to avoid that sin
tomorrow, it's not going to make him more merciful. When is the right time to come
and to ask for his help? It's now. It's always now. Always
now. Not when we're strong, when we're
weak. Paul had to learn that, didn't
he? He has his thorn in the flesh. He longs to be rid of it. Three
times he prays that the Lord would take it away. And three
times the Lord says no. And Paul has to learn, doesn't
he, that when he is weak, then he is strong. What does it mean?
How does that make sense? How can a person be weak and
strong at the same time? Well, Paul has to come to this
point, doesn't he, I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth
me. And as he rests upon Christ,
Christ upholds him. He is full of compassion. But
then, thirdly and lastly, look at the cure that the Lord Jesus
comes with to their problem. As I say, it's perhaps a surprising
cure. The Lord Jesus doesn't just snap
his fingers and say, well, I'll give these people some strength.
Easily done. They're fainting. I can give
strength. All power is given unto me. I can just make them
recover. I can make them feel better.
He doesn't just give them a a miraculous boost of energy just to keep
them going? What does he say they need? Well,
surely it's here in his words to his disciples. The harvest
truly is plenteous, he says. Look at this great company. They're
like sheep without a shepherd. They don't know what they're
doing. They don't understand. They haven't seen what my father
is like. They've been brought up in this tradition of of legalism
really. They're obsessed with their traditions. They think that that is the way
to peace with God. The harvest truly is plenteous
but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
What is the cure for these weary people? What is the cure for
this great multitude who are as sheep having no shepherd. The cure is the preaching of
the gospel, isn't it? That's what he means by these labourers.
He's talking about his servants, his disciples, those who are
sent out. Just in the next chapter, he
calls to him his 12 disciples and he sends them out to preach
the gospel. As he go, preach, saying the
kingdom of heaven is at hand. What they need is teaching. They
don't need just a miraculous boost of energy. Well, that might be enough to
get them on their feet again and to get them moving again
and to keep them going for a few hours or a couple of days, but
it won't last. What do they need? Well, it's
there in chapter 11, isn't it? The well-known words of Jesus
at the end of chapter 11. You haven't noticed what he says?
Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn
of me. Learn of me. Be my disciples. Listen to me. Hear my words. And if you learn of me, you will
find rest unto your souls. arresting Christ. There's a similar
passage in Mark's Gospel. In Mark chapter six, Jesus again
there, he sees a great multitude, much people, again he's moved
with compassion toward them. Again he sees them as sheep not
having a shepherd. What does he do? He began to
teach them many things. He began to teach them many things.
Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. When we faint, when we're scattered
abroad, when we're cast down, when we make the mistake of thinking
that we need to work our way back into the favour of God by
doing certain things and avoiding other things, When we fall into a spirit of
legalism, what is it that we need? We need to have the gospel
preached to us again. To see the truth of that gospel,
to see the freeness of that salvation, to see the wideness of that door
of hope that is opened wide in Jesus' bleeding hands and side. That's what will do us good.
not just some temporary emotional response to the word, not just
a nice, warm, comfortable feeling, but teaching, instruction, learning.
Again, what does Jesus say in John chapter six? He's talking
about those who will come to him. No man can come to me, he
says, except the Father which hath sent me draw him. And I
will raise him up at the last day. Who is it that comes? It is written in the Prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. Every man that hath heard and
hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. Here are these weary
people, this great multitude, fainting, wandering like sheep
without a shepherd. Jesus says the solution to their
problem is the Gospel. That's what they need. That's
what they need to understand. That's what they need to have
shown to them. It was his closing word almost
to his disciples, wasn't it, at the end of his words at the
Last Supper. You remember in John's Gospel
we have those chapters toward the end where Jesus has just
kept the Feast of the Passover. and wash the feet of his disciples,
and then he speaks to them. What does he say at the end of
chapter 16? He says, these things I have
spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. Where does
peace come from? How does a sinner find peace?
How does a sinner come to a place of rest? How is it that a sinner
is sustained? Well, says Jesus, it's by my
words, these things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might
have peace, a peace that comes through his message, a peace
that is in him. When he saw the multitudes, he
was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and
were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Pray ye therefore,
the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers
into his harvest. Just two things in closing. What
does this imply for our behaviour towards other people? How do
we respond when we come across people who are like this multitude
here? When we come across those who
are fainting, who are a sheep having no shepherd, who don't
seem to know which direction to go or where to turn? Well,
the Lord Jesus was moved with compassion toward them. So different to the Pharisees,
wasn't he? The Pharisees looked at these people and they looked
down their noses at them. And they said, well, this people,
they're such an ignorant people. They don't know how to behave. It was like that when they sent
officers to take him. You remember in John chapter
7, the Pharisees and chief priests send the officers to arrest the
Lord Jesus. But when they come to him and when they hear his
words, they're so struck by his message that they return empty-handed.
And the Pharisees say, well, why have you not brought him
back? And they say, well, we've never heard anything like this
before. Never man spake like this man. then answered them
the Pharisees, are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of
the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who know if not
the law are cursed." How ready the Pharisees were to look down
upon the multitude and to say, well, they're an ignorant people,
they don't understand, they're not like us Pharisees. We know, we
understand, we can keep the right traditions. Can't we fall into that same
way of thinking sometimes? We think that we're superior. We look down upon them. Well,
that's not the spirit of Christ. He has moved with compassion
toward them. And then think about this. What
are we to do when we are here? When we're like this multitude
in verse 36, fainting, scattered abroad, tired, lying down, as
sheep having no shepherd, What is it that we need? What is it
that we ought to pray for? Teaching, instruction. To hear
his words, to come to understand his gospel, his message. It's
not natural for us, is it, sometimes to think like that. We want the
easy thing, we want the easy option. We want just some temporary boost,
something that will just get us through, short term. not what
we need, not what will do us good. We need something solid,
something that will last. 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 labourers
are few. Pray ye therefore, the Lord of
the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
Isn't that what we need today? in one of the Old Testament prophets. We read of a famine, don't we?
Not a famine of bread or of water, but a famine of the hearing of
the words of the Lord. Isn't that what's had such a
great effect in our own nation? Think of the days of men like
Whitefield. Think of the days of the reformers. What was it that changed the
life of our nation? It was his Gospel, his message,
the Word of God. That's what we need today. We
live in a world which is fainting, which is scattered abroad. Don't
you see how divided things are in our own country? Sheep having
no shepherd, people don't know who to follow, what to listen
to. God grant that we might pray what the Lord Jesus encourages
us to pray for here. Pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest
to rescue those who are fainting, scattered abroad, sheep having
no shepherd. For his glory, may God bless his word to us. Amen.