I want to bring a message today
from the book of Luke, chapter 7. If you want to turn your Bibles
to Luke, chapter 7. Before we begin, I would like
to start with a word of prayer, so let's pray. Our great God
and Father, our Father by the Lord Jesus Christ and by your
eternal predestinating love in Him, we come to you now entirely
dependent upon you to give to us from your word by your spirit
the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, spoken as the prophet, the one
who is God and came as man and speaks to us as people, brings
your word from heaven into the darkness of our souls and speaks
light and life to us. We pray, Lord, that you would
give us this grace today. Speak to our children, speak
to our own hearts, and that your word go forth with power according
to your will and your mercy. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
In Luke chapter seven, we have one of the most endearing places
in scripture. In the first 10 verses, a centurion
man who was a captain over soldiers and not a Jew, had a servant
who was sick and he sent those of the Jewish religion, the rulers
of the synagogue and such, to Jesus because he didn't think
himself worthy to come to Christ. He sent him to Christ instead
on behalf of his servant. And he asked the Lord to heal
his servant. And Jesus was going to go, but
the man said that he was not worthy for him to come into his
house. But he said, if you would just
speak the word only. My servant shall be healed. And
it was on that occasion that Jesus responded. When he heard
these things, he turned about and he said to the people that
followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith.
No, not in Israel. All the land of Israel, he had
not found faith as great as this man. Because he believed that
Jesus had authority to heal, authority to do this by his word,
because he was God and God in man. And so this was the miracle
that precedes the one I want to focus on, which begins in
verse 11 of Luke chapter 7. And I've entitled this message,
The Compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ, His Compassion Towards
Us. And I wanna read it here, it
goes through verse 17, and it's just a small, short section of
scripture, like many of the miracles are. It amazes me how much God
is able to condense into such few words. But that means that
we need to pause and listen to the words carefully, because
he speaks so much information in such little space. In Luke
chapter seven, in verse 11, it came to pass the day after, the
day after Jesus had healed the servant of the centurion by just
speaking, it says that he went into a city called Nain. And
many of his disciples went with him, and much people. So there's a large number of
people coming to this city. And that's important to realize
that there were all these people coming here because Jesus is
going to do something here that's astounding. That's remarkable. It never would have been expected. No one would have asked this
because it was beyond all that we could ask or think. So there
were many people, which means that there were many witnesses
to what he was going to do. But he wasn't doing this to show
off. This was his character. This was his nature. This was
his purpose. He did this on purpose. It says
that there were many of his disciples that went with him and much people.
Now in verse 12, now when he came nigh to the gate of the
city, so he's just now entering into the gate of the city, that's
where you would go in and out, the gate of the city. Behold,
there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother,
and she was a widow. So here's the case. A mother's
son died, and he was young. He wasn't an infant, but he wasn't
an old man either. He was a young man. And she herself
was a widow, and this was her only son. Can you imagine the
sorrow of this woman? Can you imagine how hard it is
to lose someone that's so dear to you, her husband first and
now her only son. We should feel that, shouldn't
we? We can feel something of it as people because we've lost,
we've had sorrow. We may not have lost somebody
that we loved in death, but we've known some sorrow in our lives
if we haven't. And I'm sure that many of us
have lost someone dear to us. But how many of us have lost
a husband or a wife or even a child? As our children were growing
up, I could think of nothing more sorrowful than losing one
of my children, and the thought of that used to haunt me often. So I can identify with this woman,
and I'm sure the people there also identified with this woman,
because it says here, that the much people of the city were
with her. So we have a lot of people coming
with Jesus and we have a lot of people coming out of the city
because this was a funeral. They were carrying her son on
a bed or in a coffin, however they did it in those days, out
of the city, taking him to the cemetery. And that's what, that
was the scene. This woman, all the people in
the city, my, I remember that my dad told a story about when
his father, I think it's his grandfather died. He lived in
Kansas. And he said that in those days
when the cars carrying the casket to the cemetery drove by, that
people would stop their wagons and their cars and they would
get out and they would take their hat off and they would show respect
to the procession going by. I think about that because we
hardly even see funerals in our day. It seems like that they're
tucked away and kept out of sight, and that's a shame. It's a shame
because we don't have an opportunity to show that compassion that
we ought to show to others. But here's an entire city, it
seems, showing their sorrow with this woman's sorrow, because
they could only feel what she felt in some measure. She herself
was the one who really could feel it. And she was sorrowful. And you can imagine that. But
it says in verse 13, because it's not just about her sorrow
here. It's about something far better. But just imagine this
funeral. And it's on foot. And Jesus comes
to this city, right in the middle of when the funeral was occurring.
And when the Lord saw her, it doesn't say Jesus saw her, it
says when the Lord saw her. Jesus is the Lord. He's the Son
of God. That means that He is God. He's
the Son of God, meaning that He is equal with God. He has the nature He shares the
same essence as His Father. He's eternal. He is all-powerful. He doesn't change. He cannot
lie. At His Word, the heavens and
the earth were created. And at His Word, they're held
up. And this is the one, the Lord of glory, the Prince of
life, who comes now, and He sees this woman. in all of her sorrow
and all the people. It says, when the Lord saw her,
you see those next words? He had compassion on her. Compassion
is something that we have some sense of what it means. You know
what it's like when you're a child and you fall down and hurt yourself
and your mother scoops you up and she gives you compassion. You know that someone feels your
pain, that they sympathize with you in your pain, and that makes
it less painful, doesn't it? Because we need compassion when
we suffer. And this woman was sorrowing,
but here, not just anybody had compassion. It was the Lord who
had compassion. He saw her. He had compassion
on her. Now, in Colossians 2, verse 9,
it says that, in the Lord Jesus Christ dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. That means all that God is, is
in Christ, the Lord, in the body and the soul of a man. Now, how
that happens, I don't understand. But I do know this, that the
person Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in one person dwells
two natures. And in his nature as God and
man, he had compassion. Think about that. If the fullness
of the Godhead dwells in him, think of what compassion he had.
He had the compassion of God, didn't he? He had an infinite
compassion on her. and infinite compassion. You
see what, as God, he knew everything that had happened. He is the
one who makes alive. He's the one who takes life again. He knew her circumstances. He knew her need. He knew her
thoughts. He knew everything. He knew the
thoughts of the people there. He sent his son. as God, he knew
everything about her. And he knew as God, Jesus knew
the will of God. Like it says in Romans 8, 26
and 27, the spirit, we don't know what to pray as we ought,
but the spirit of God in us makes intercession for us according
to the will of God. He knows the will of God and
Christ himself makes intercession for us according to the spirit
of God for us. So here the Lord Jesus as God
has compassion with the infinite mercy of God, but not just as
God, as man who has in himself felt our sorrows, in himself
has been tempted in all things like we are. And he was made
a high priest for us as man because as God and man he could feel
and know our sorrows. And here we see this. The Lord
had compassion on her. The Lord Jesus, God and man. And so he goes on. And out of
his compassion, what did he do? Jesus said to this woman, weep
not. That almost seems rude, doesn't
it? If I was there trying to console
this woman, I wouldn't have told her to stop weeping. But this
is not just a man. This is the God-man. And he says,
weep not. Now, if he says, weep not, it
means that he himself He's directing her to himself, isn't he? He
draws attention, he draws her attention to himself and he tells
her, weep not. What a word this is to a sorrowful
widow who lost her only son in the middle of the funeral. He
says to her, weep not. This is the way the Lord saves
us, doesn't he? He tells us before we have any evidence Before there's
any appearance of His power, He tells us, weep not. Weep not. In all of our life, we see around
us every cause for concern and sorrow and disappointment and
frustration and fear. It overwhelms us, we're perplexed.
And we wonder, what are we going to do? And the Lord says, weep
not. If the Lord says weep not, then
we know he's going to take our sorrow so that we can weep not. Just like last week, remember
the title of the sermon, Be Comforted, I Am, Fear Not. This is the words
of the Lord Jesus, weep not. And so in verse 14, it says,
and he came and he touched the beer. That means the man, the
men who were carrying the coffin, he touched the coffin or the
bed on which this dead young man was being carried out of
the city. And he didn't touch it. At that time, he didn't make
the man well. He didn't heal or raise him from
the dead. He just stopped the procession.
They're moving along and he goes forward and he lays his hand
on that coffin and stops the entire procession. He interfered,
didn't he? He interjected himself into the
course of this man's path to the cemetery, this young
man. And that says a lot to us about
how God saves, which we wanna draw out in a minute here. It
says, and then after he stopped the procession, they that bear
him, it says in verse 14, stood still and he said, young man,
I say unto thee, arise. Just hearing those words, it
makes your scalp tingle, doesn't it? Remember when Elijah was
sent to a widow woman, and he told her after he had come from
the ordeal with Jezebel and the prophets of Baal, and he had
run away, and 40 days and 40 nights he had gone on that food
that the angel brought to him, and now he comes, he's ready
to eat again, and he tells the widow woman, go make me a cake.
with what you have." And she said, I'm just gathering some
sticks here because we only have enough for one more meal, me
and my son. And I was going to make a meal for him and me. And
he said, go make me one first. So she did. And then a little
later on, her son got sick and died. And Elijah went into the
room where he lay and he He raised that boy from the dead, but he
prayed to the Lord that he would bring back the soul into this
boy's body. And the Lord did raise him up.
And another occasion, Elisha, Also, who was staying with a
woman named Shunammite woman, and she had made him a little
room and a place where he could stay on his journeys, and he
was staying there with her, and he promised her that the Lord
was going to give her a son. She was old in age, and they
had no children, and the woman gave birth to a son, and after
the course of time, her son was growing up. Elisha was still
coming by, and one day her son fell sick and died. And she was
so sorrowful, and Elisha went in on that boy's son and laid
his staff on the boy, and nothing happened, and he stretched himself
on the child, put his eyes in the boy's eyes, his hands in
the boy's hands, and breathed into the boy's mouth, and called
on the Lord, and the Lord raised that boy back to life. Those
were amazing miracles, these prophets. carried God's word
and God validated their word through these miracles. Here
the Lord Jesus is a prophet. He brings God's word. We can't
know God, we can't hear from God unless he sends a prophet
to us. Here the Lord Jesus is that prophet. And he comes to
this young man who's dead now. It's obvious, he's in the coffin,
he's being carried out of the city. And he pauses the procession
and he speaks to the young man, he says, I say unto thee. He doesn't call on God. He himself
speaks as God. I say unto thee. Young man, he
says, as it says here, young man, I say unto thee, arise. Amazing. That's amazing, isn't
it? I find that amazing. What do
you think happened? It says in verse 15, he that
was dead sat up and began to speak. And he delivered him to
his mother. Now we see why he told his mother,
weep not. Before there was any evidence,
just like the thief hanging on the cross with absolutely no
indication outwardly that beside him hung the Lord of glory, he
says, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. That
was God's grace of faith in that man that gave him that sight.
And so when the Lord says, weep not, what is the Lord doing here
but giving her the word upon which by warrant of his word
and by the grace that attended that word, she could now believe
that word and be comforted. Right? Isn't that what God's
Word does? Without evidence, by faith is
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. Because God is glorified through
faith, because faith ascribes to God all power in our salvation
and everything that's associated with our salvation. And faith
doesn't look for anything else but what God has said concerning
His Son and finds our all in Him. And so we see this. Now we can see something here
in this whole account about the way God saves sinners. What does
the scripture say about us and our condition? He says in Ephesians
chapter two that we are dead in sins. Ephesians chapter two,
if you want to turn there, I'll just read these words to you.
It describes our condition. And it's just like the condition
of this young man, only his condition was physical, and ours is spiritual. He says, and you, verse 1 of
chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2, and you hath he quickened,
or made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world.
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom we
all had our conversation, our lifestyle, in times past, in
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even as
others." We were spiritually dead in sins. So think about
it. Here's a boy, or a young man,
being carried out, dead, on his way to the cemetery. And doesn't
that describe us? We walk in our body, we have
a soul, but our spirit is dead. Our body itself, it says in Romans
8, verse 10, is dead. The body is dead because of sins. So, we're like in a walking coffin,
aren't we? We need to be raised from the
dead. And this condition we're in, we're helpless and we're
hopeless, just like this young man. The woman was absolutely
distraught because she was unable to do anything and nobody else
could help the boy. And so God has to speak. What has to happen? Jesus saw
her. Jesus had compassion on her. Jesus told her, weep not. He
stopped. the procession, and he interjected
himself into the funeral in order that he might have compassion
and raise her son from the dead. And this is exactly how God saves
us. He stops us in the course of
our march toward the grave, and he speaks into the ears of our
dead spirit, and he commands life. He says to us, like he
said to this young man, young man, I say unto thee, arise. And his word is the gospel. And
with that word comes the grace to hear of what Christ has done. And in hearing that, we suddenly
have hope. We suddenly have a warrant to
look to him only and cry to God to receive us for his sake alone.
And that's life. That's the result of life that
we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And so you can see how
this small event, which was a huge miracle, portrays God's way of
saving us by his son. Isn't that phenomenal that he
would do this here for us? We who were dead in sins are
raised up. Remember, Sarah, Abraham's wife,
they had no children. But God had promised them they
would, and promised that their son would come through Sarah,
who was now 90 years old. Her womb was dead. She could
bear no fruit to God, no children. She's just like we are, dead
in sins. Couldn't bear any fruit to God.
She could not perform the normal functions of a mother. Her body
was dead. It was beyond hope. And so when
the angel came to Abraham, the three men came to Abraham, and
Abraham prepared for them a meal, and they were eating it, and
they asked about where Sarah was, and they told Abraham, while
they were outside the tent, they told Abraham that about this
time, according to the time of life, we will come again, and
Sarah shall have a son. And Sarah heard this in the tent,
She didn't think they could hear her or see her, and she laughed. Incredulous. That's not possible. I'm dead to burying children.
And you know what the Lord said? Why did Sarah laugh? I didn't laugh, she said. Oh,
yes, you did. You did laugh. And the Lord said, is there anything
too hard for the Lord? Is there? If God has spoken life,
then there will be life. And so is there anything, if
the Lord says weep not, is there anything too hard for the Lord?
Shouldn't we believe His word? Is there any reason to doubt
Him? Not unless we doubt that He is the Son of God, or doubt
that He is able to do what He said. But Abraham and Sarah became
persuaded, fully persuaded, that God who promised was able to
do what He said, and God counted it to them for righteousness.
And that's what God does to his people. He gives them the grace
of faith to hear Christ's word and believe him. And so believing
him, they find the Lord has given me his own righteousness in the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what faith does. It receives
from Christ a perfect standing before God. And with that perfect
standing, you know what else? Everlasting life. It says in
Romans 5, 21, as sin hath reigned unto death, because that's why
we die, that's why our souls, our spirits are dead, because
of sin. But as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And so God speaks the gospel
to us of Christ's righteousness. And so hearing as sinners, helpless
and hopeless, We're suddenly made alive. We have peace and
joy in our heart to find that God receives us, not for something
he finds in us, not for compassion that we exercise towards him,
but because he saw us, because he had compassion on us, and
because by his will and his word and his life-giving power, he
raised us from the dead. Now we believe And now it's all
because of Him. And to Him goes all glory. So
that's the first thing we see here, is that this portrays our
salvation. Is the Lord able to raise the
dead? You better know it. He raised
Himself. He laid His life down. He says,
I have power also to take it up again. This is God's Commandment,
he said to me, to lay down my life for the sheep, to take my
life up again, and in taking up his life, to take it up for
his sheep and his people with him. In that one act of raising
himself from the dead, you know what the Lord did? He raised
all of his people with him. What kind of power is that? That's
the power of omnipotent. And see here, the words of that
song, come ye sinners, poor and needy, And he says, how's that
song go? Come ye sinners, poor and wretched,
poor, poor and needy, weak and wounded by the fall. I can't remember exactly the
words, but there was one line in there that says, it says that
in the Lord Jesus Christ you will find pity, and love joined
with power. So in these words, what we find
here is that we see the mercy, the sovereign mercy of the Lord
Jesus Christ joined with almighty power. When we say almighty power,
we mean there's nothing that God cannot do. Nothing. That means not only can he raise
the dead, but he can remove the cause of death, which is sin. The wages of sin is death. There's
no death without sin. Therefore, what we're seeing
here is the consequences of sin. And so the Lord Jesus, in order
to raise the dead, had to do what first? He had to deal with
sin. And that's the significant part.
Remember when he told that paralytic man lying on the bed carried
by four and let down through the roof? And he said, son, thy
sins be forgiven thee. And they were indignant. Who
can forgive sins but God? And he said, which is greater,
to say, your sins be forgiven you, or to say, rise, take up
your bed and walk? Well, of course, we know the
most difficult thing is to remove sin. So that you might know that
I have power on earth to forgive sins, he said to him, then, rise,
take up your bed, and walk. And he did, in order to prove
that what he said at first, your sins are forgiven you, was also
carried out. This is what the Lord had to
do. The reason that he could raise the dead is because he
himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. And this
is why he carried, he had compassion on this woman because he knew
what sorrow was personally. I wanna read to you from Isaiah
53. And I wanna read it in a version
that's different than the King James Version which we normally
read out of. This version was written by a man named J.P. Green, Sr., and is called the
literal translation, or something like that, L-I-T-V of the Bible. Let's see if I can find this.
But the reason I want to read this is because we're familiar
with this text of scripture as it is in the King James, but
the translation here brings clarity to some of the things that we
normally would see. Just listen to this. I want you to think
about this. First of all, think about this
fact. The Lord Jesus can have compassion,
in fact, perfect compassion on his people because in all their
afflictions, he was afflicted. That's what it says in Isaiah
63, verse nine says, in all their affliction, he was afflicted. We have to pause and let that
sink in. In all their affliction, he was afflicted. Well, why are
we afflicted? Only because of sin, right? but
in all their affliction, he was afflicted." Everything we have
born and do bear in our affliction, as the Lord's people, the Lord
Jesus was afflicted. And it says in Isaiah 63, 9,
he goes on and he says, in his love and in his pity, he redeemed
them and he bared them and carried them all the days of old. What
did his compassion and mercy do for his people? He redeemed
them. But how? Through his own blood. Why? Because it was a ransom
price paid. And what is that redemption?
Liberty. Freedom. The Lord's free man
set free from the guilt of sin and the condemnation of it too.
So we're saved. The Lord has perfect compassion
upon us because he was afflicted in our affliction because he
himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. 1 Peter
2.24. Our sins literally became his. That means the guilt of them
were made his guilt to bear. And the consequences of them,
the wrath of God for them was made his. Our guilt and our sickness
became his. Our plague and our pain all became
his. He carried our sins. He was forsaken
because of our sins laid upon him. All we owe to God became
his debt to pay. And he was made a curse for us
because we were cursed for our sins. Now, can you believe this? That the Son of God, the Son
of God, in the body of Christ, the man, was called the man of
sorrows? Can we believe that? Listen to
Isaiah 53, as I said, from the LITV version. Who has believed
our report? What I was just talking about,
his compassion, how he himself was afflicted in all our afflictions.
Who can believe this report? And by the way, this is quoted
in Romans 10, verse 16, and it's synonymous with the gospel. Who
has believed the gospel? As Isaiah said, who has believed
our report? Who has believed our report and
to whom is the arm of Jehovah revealed? The strength, the almighty
power of Jehovah God. This is where it is. This is
where that power is to raise the dead. It's here in the gospel
of Jesus Christ in his substitutionary suffering. Verse two of Isaiah
53, for he comes up before him as a tender plant and as a root
out of dry ground. He has no form nor magnificence
that we should see him nor form that we should desire him. He
is despised and abandoned of men. a man of pains and acquainted
with sickness, and, as it were, hiding our faces from him, he
being despised, and we did not value him." We turned our face,
we turned our back on the Lord Jesus Christ and his sufferings.
Verse 3, he is despised and abandoned of men, a man of pains. I just
read this. Verse 4, surely he has borne
our sicknesses. He has borne our sicknesses,
and He carried our pain. Yet we esteemed Him plagued,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him." In other words, the stroke of justice deserved
by us was put upon him, and with his wounds, that stroke, with
his wounds we ourselves are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. We have each one turned to his
own way, and Jehovah made meet in him the iniquity of us all,
made it to bear upon him. put it upon him, the iniquity
of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
but he did not open his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter
and as a ewe before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his
mouth. He was taken from prison and
from justice, and who shall consider his generation, for he was cut
off out of the land of the living. From the transgression of my
people, the stroke, was to him, and he appointed him his grave
with the wicked, and he was with a rich man in his death, though
he had done no violence, and deceit was not in his mouth.
But Jehovah was pleased to crush him, to make him sick, so that
if he should put his soul As a guilt offering, he shall see
his seed. He shall prolong his days, and
the will of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the
fruit of the travail of his soul. He shall be fully satisfied.
By his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, shall justify
for many. and he shall bear their iniquities.
Because of this, I will divide to him with the great and with
the strong. He shall divide the spoiled, because he poured out
his soul to death, and he was counted with those transgressing,
and he bore the sin of many, and he made intercession for
those transgressing. This is what God has said about
his son. This is the report. This is phenomenal. This is why
he could sorrow, because he himself bore our sorrows. Our sins became
His. The guilt and the pain of those
sins became His. Before God, can you imagine anything
more painful than to stand before God guilty, and yet hear the
Son of God, the Holy One of God, who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
in whom was no sin, who knew no sin, and did no sin, stands
guilty before God in our sins, and bore the pain of that, that
endured the curse of it. in order to take it from us.
How could Jesus raise this young man from the dead? Because he
had taken his sin and given him his own life. And that resurrection,
I mean, the fact that he could do that is why he's called the
resurrection and the life. He himself is the resurrection
and the life because he took our sins to death and brought
us to life in his resurrection. All life is in him. And so we
see this here in this compassion of the Lord Jesus. It's amazing. Aren't you glad that the Lord
stopped this funeral? Aren't you glad that he stops
us on our procession to the grave? Aren't you glad there was such
a great number of people who saw this and witnessed his compassion
and power to raise the dead, to raise it to life? Why is it? Why is it that we die? You know
that death is the consequences of sin. And you see the sadness
of it. You see the sorrow that it brought
this mother and the death that it brought this son. And I often
wonder, why is it that some people seem like they suffer greater
consequences in this life of sin than others? It's not because
they're greater sinners. Remember that time when the disciples
came to Jesus and he told them, do you think that the tower that
fell on those people in Siloam fell upon them because they were
greater sinners than you? No, that's not why it was. Except
you repent, you shall all likewise perish. But why is it that some
people seem to suffer the consequences in this life of sin more? You
see it. Their bodies are affected by it. They endure more sadness
and sorrow because of it. Why is that? I wondered about
that as I was thinking about these things. I think, first
of all, it's to heighten our awareness of our need, isn't
it? If we had no sorrow, what significance
would it be if he took our sorrow? Our deep sorrow is to point us
to him who takes our sorrow and bore that sorrow, so that in
seeing him as our sin-bearing, sorrow-bearing savior, we would
be affected by it. they would have an impact on
us. And like these people here, we haven't read it yet, but like
these people, when they saw Jesus raise this boy from the dead,
fear came upon them. They were awestruck. They stood
in absolute open mouth awe. and reverence at the mighty power
of God and the gift that he gave to them in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But that's the first reason, I think, is to heighten our appreciation
for, our awareness of our need, and therefore our appreciation
for God's saving work in Christ. You see what significant, what
it took in order to remove your sorrow? It took the death of
the Son of God in our nature. And the second reason, I think,
is because it gives us, when we see others sorrowing, it gives
our faith an opportunity to show compassion for them as the Lord
has had compassion on us. And everything connected to that. But the third thing here, I think,
is that everything that draws out our awareness of our need
for mercy because of our sorrow, what is it? But great mercy,
you see. Anything that causes us to cry
to the Lord for mercy is mercy, isn't it? I mean, I say this with deliberation
in order for us to think about it. We see sorrow in our lives. We feel the pain of loss or whatever
it is, our bodies, our minds, our loved ones, our disappointments,
our frustrations. Life is full of this, but anything
that causes us in helplessness and hopelessness to look expectantly
for the Lord Jesus to come to see, to have compassion, to say,
weep not, and then to speak life because of his sin bearing, sin
atoning death by the power of Almighty God with the compassion
of God and man. This is something that is a great
mercy to us. Anything that causes us to see
that is great mercy. The Lord sees it all, He does.
And so we have this significant promise of His. I want you to
turn with me to Hebrews chapter two. Hebrews chapter two, it says
this about the Lord Jesus. It says in verse nine, I'm going
to recap what I said before this. There was a promise made in creation
that when God made man, that he put all things under his feet.
The question is, the observation is made here, but we don't see
everything put under him, do we? Obviously, man isn't in control
right now of all things. So what's the promise? What did
it actually mean? Verse nine, but we see Jesus because the
promise was made not to Adam, the figure of him who was to
come, but to Christ, the one Adam pointed to. But we see Jesus
who was made a little lower than the angels for this purpose,
for the suffering of death. We see him crowned with glory
and honor And he was made for the suffering of death lower
than the angels, that he, by the grace of God, should taste
death for every, for every one, for every one mentioned in this
text of Scripture. For it became him, it seemed
good to God, it pleased God, for whom are all things, and
by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, that's
the every there in verse nine, every son, in bringing many sons
to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect, how? through sufferings. How was the
Lord Jesus Christ perfected as our captain through sufferings?
How could he be perfected through sufferings? Two ways at least
come to mind. First, because in suffering he
bore our sufferings and took them from us. Second, because
he can have compassion on us in our sufferings. And being
made perfect He became the author to make the capital of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifyeth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he
is not ashamed to call them brethren. God considers them one. And because
they're one, Christ had to take their nature. And he's not ashamed,
therefore, to call them his brethren, saying, I will declare thy name
unto my brethren in the midst of the church while I sing praise
to thee and again. So that was one quotation. I'm
going to quote another one, he says. And again, I will put my
trust in Him. The Lord Jesus Christ in prophecy
says of His Father, I, as a man, will put my trust in Him as the
God-man, the mediator. And again, behold, I and the
children which God hath given me. So he's like, he's one with
us. He shares our sorrows, he shares
our weaknesses, he trusts God, is dependent upon God, and he
calls us his brethren, his sons, his children. the children God
has given me. Verse 14, for as much then as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same flesh and blood, that through
death, his death, he might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Here we have this
young man carried out the sorrows, the fears of death, and he says
he came here to destroy that work. in his own death, in his
death he put death to death and destroyed the works of the devil.
Verse 16, for verily he took not on him the nature of angels,
in other words he didn't take on angels, But he took on the
seed of Abraham. He took on all those God gave
him who were called in scripture the seed of Abraham, those who
like Abraham believe Christ. Not those who were born to Abraham,
but those who believe Christ like Abraham did. Verse 17, 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 has suffered, being tempted, he is able to
succor them that are tempted." Succor them, that's a word we
don't use. It means to run to the aid of them that are tempted. because he himself was tempted
at all points. He was tried in every way we
are. Everything we experience in our sorrow, in our frustrations,
everything in life that we experience because of our weakness and because
of our sin, Christ suffered as our substitute. and he bore those
things in himself and therefore he's able to run to our aid. Can you imagine this compassion?
I want to look at one more verse and we'll close with this. Look
at lamentation. Lamentations after Jeremiah in
the Old Testament, the lamenting of Jeremiah the prophet. Jeremiah was cast into a dungeon
in a mire, and he was kept there without food. They just fed him
some bread and water. You can imagine what the mire-y
dungeon was like. It was basically a cesspool.
They threw him in there. And they had to hold him up with
ropes to keep him from sinking in the mire. So he was put there.
And the entire nation of the Jews was taken captivity into
Babylon. And so the lamentations of Jeremiah
historically were for that, but they pointed in prophecy to the
lamenting of the Lord Jesus Christ who was put in the dungeon for
us. He suffered for us. And we were
under the wrath of God for our sins, but he delivered us by
his own sufferings. But his lamentations are related
to that. But look in verse 22 of chapter
three, Lamentation 3, 22. It says there, I'm sorry, it
is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. Why don't
we receive the full due of our sins? Why are we held up? Why isn't God's judgment brought
on this nation right now? Why do we even have life? Why
is it that God didn't destroy this nation from the very outset,
let alone put up with us for the last 200 plus years? And
why does He continue even with us in this small group? In our
own personal lives, why does God continue not destroying us? Because of His mercies, it says. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed. Not because of our goodness,
not because of our faithfulness, not because of our strength.
Nor are we prevented from His mercies because of our sin. That's
the amazing thing. Our sins should prevent His mercies,
but that doesn't keep His mercies from us. It is of the Lord's
mercies that we're not consumed. In other words, all cause for
Christ seeing and having compassion and speaking to the woman and
raising the dead and doing all these things was sprang from
His heart, not from ours. It says, behold me, behold me
to a people that didn't call upon him. I was found of them
that sought me not. In Isaiah 65 verse one. But here
it's of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. It directs
us to the Lord, doesn't it? Away from all of the sorrows
to the Lord. And from all that we should have
gotten to the Lord. He says, because his compassions
fail not. God doesn't fail. His compassions
never fail towards his people. And then he goes on, they are
new every morning, every morning. God is unchanging, but to us,
his compassion and his mercy keep coming new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. That's it, isn't it? God is faithful
to himself. God is faithful to his son. God
is faithful to his covenant. He's faithful to his promises.
He's faithful to his people. He's faithful to his own mercies
and compassion and his nature as God for his people. because
of the Lord's mercies. See in this woman our own salvation,
see the Lord's compassion and mercy, and may our hearts be
drawn out to him. Christ's tender mercies and his
compassion towards sinners was the basis on which David prayed
in Psalm 51, blot out all my transgressions and all my sins
because of your tender mercies and your great compassion. It's
amazing. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your mercy
and compassion that saw us in our great need and understood
our case, and felt it too, and knew your will, and executed
that, and did the work, and spoke your word, and raised us from
the dead. And so we look to you and we trust that you said, all
who come to you will not be cast out. You won't cast out one,
but you will raise them up at the last day. And so we pray,
Lord, raise us up. according to Your mercies and
Your compassions that don't fail, according to Your promise and
Your word. Do what You've said, Lord. Draw us to Yourself. Bring us from spiritual death
to life. Give us faith in the Lord Jesus
and so glorify God for His mercies towards us. And let us be like
these people, standing in awe of You. In Jesus' name we pray,
amen.