My subject today, the title of
this message is Our Lord's Tender Pity. You find it there in verse
13 and 14. You find these verses. Like as a father pitted his children,
so the Lord pitted them that fear him. For he knoweth our
frame, he remembereth that we are dust. That we are dust. Now these verses have often been
quoted, they've been referred to, turned to, read, quoted so
many times, and every time they are, they bless the hearts of
God's dear children. Huh. As a father pitied these children, There's a man, I watched a video
of it last night, I've seen it several times, his son has cerebral
palsy and he's way up, and this fella gets him out and runs him
every day, puts him in a chair and runs every day with him. I saw him pick that boy up, he's
40 years old, carry him, it's like carrying a child, sat him
down, fixed him in, and that boy just laughs and has a big
time. That father does everything for that child. That child does
nothing. That man pities his child and takes care of his child. And that's what God does for
us. He pities us and takes care of his children. And then he
goes even farther. He knows our frame. We all have
a frame. We have this body. And he remembers that it's just
I want you to keep this and look in Genesis 3.19. I want you to
see this with me before I get into my mention. In Genesis 3.19. And here's what, and he remembers
that we're dust. Our frame. It says here in verse 19 of Genesis
chapter 3. In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread, till thou return under the ground. For out of
it was thou taken. Now watch this. For dust thou
art, and under dust shalt thou return. And our friends, I had
some uncles that were giants. They were big, big, big, great
big men. I had an aunt that stood over
six foot tall, a great big woman. But no matter what size the frame
is, it's still dust, and that's what God says. He knows and remembers
our frame, that it's but dust. Now back over in Psalm here,
it says, David's Psalm here is one of praise to his God. He
begins to say, Oh, bless the Lord, oh my soul and all that's
within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, bless the Lord,
bless the Lord. He says it five times in this
Psalm. And he praised him for his mercy,
he praised him for his pity. Look what he says in verse 8
here. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger. Oh, you've got to really, really
do something to get God angry with you. And then look what
it says, and plenteous, plenteous in mercy. And He will not always
chide, He just will not pick at you, chide you. Pick at you. He'll not always tithe, neither
will he keep his anger forever. Now watch this. He hath not dealt
with us after our sins. What if he dealt with us after
our sins in us? Nor rewarded us according to
our iniquities. David says, Oh, I am poor and
needy. Yet, yet the Lord thinketh upon
me. And our Heavenly Father, He'll
deal with us as we really are. Weak, feeble, and frail. He knoweth our frame. He remembers
that we're dust. He doesn't deal with us as we
ought to be. And all of us sometimes say,
I'm not what I ought to be. And most, well, none of us are.
But thank God, God don't deal with us as we ought to be. And
He don't deal with us after what we think we should be. What we should be. But He deals
with us as we are. He knows our frame and remembers
that we are dust. Just dust. He deals with us in
pity. Tender, tender, gracious pity. The most tender pity. The Lord
deals with His weak, sinful children with such tenderness, such gentleness,
and he will not always chide. Not always chide. And let me
tell you this, the greatest display, you want to see God's pity and
patience and longsuffering towards us, The greatest display of it
is towards us as seen in the Lord Jesus Christ and how he
dealt with his own children. You know, Colossians 2.9 says
this, that in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily.
And so when how Christ dealt with his disciples, with his
apostles, while he was on the earth with them, that shows us
how God deals with us. See how our Lord Jesus dealt
with human weakness and human sin and the failures, and how
patient He was with them. Now, I'll tell you, beloved,
that it's so illustrated in how our Lord dealt with His own disciples,
His own apostles. And let me show you the divine
patience of our Lord Jesus Christ towards His apostles. Look at
where their origin was. Their origin. Where'd they come
from? What kind of men were they? They weren't high-born. They
weren't from a high-class family. They weren't blue-bloods. None
of them powerful. None of them were influential.
None of them held any great positions. None of them had any wealth.
None of them were noble. None of them were mighty. There
wasn't a rabbi among them. There wasn't a philosopher among
them. There wasn't a well-educated man among them. They could not
say, look at my degree. I went to this seminary and that
seminary. No, you know what they were? Old hard fishing. Made a living day and night,
catching old fish, and selling fish, and catching fish, day
and night. And publicans. Matthew was a
publican. These are the kind. He says,
for you see your calling brethren, how did not many Wise men, after
the wise men would say, how can he choose such people as those
men? Say, look at my wisdom. I have
such education. I'm so well-born. I've got some
money. I've got some influence. I've
got some power. And I'm the wise man and he chose
these fellows. How foolish can he be? And look
at me, I'm mighty. I've got a PhD. I've got all
this money and all this power and I've got great influence
and He chooses these weak people and He builds somebody? Do you
know why God did that? So no flesh could be able to
say that. No flesh in glory and His presence.
Nobody, huh? And you know when you start thinking
about what our Lord Jesus was accustomed to in heaven, He was
accustomed to praise, and worship and adoration, the angels moving
at his beck and call. I mean the glory of God in all
the heaven and all the glory about him. And then he comes
down to this earth and associates himself with these kind of people?
Where he come from to come down here and deal with these kind
of people? These kind of meek? And all these men, they were
so slow in their understanding. And they didn't even know how
to pray. He said, Lord, teach us to pray. They didn't know
how to pray. And let me tell you something
he did. And I do this myself. I do this, but our Lord don't
do it. He never had a book out and kept a register. Now, Simon
Peter done this. Thomas done that. Philip done
that. Matthew done this other thing.
Nathanael done that thing over there. He never kept a register
of what they did wrong. And I can remember what somebody
done wrong to me when I was a child. I got erased right up here. But
our Lord Jesus Christ never done any of that. Bless His Holy Name. And I tell you, He was so pitiful
and patient towards them because of their understanding. Look
with me in Luke 24. Look with me in Luke 24. Oh,
He was so patient with them over their lack of understanding.
You say sometimes, I guess, oh, preacher, I don't understand.
I'm so slow to understand, so slow to get anything. I just
can't remember things. I don't understand things. I
can't remember things. Well, how pitiful was our Lord
Jesus Christ for these men and their lack of understanding.
How slow they were to understand the things of Christ. Before
Pentecost, they were so slow and they were so unspiritual.
Look what it says here in verse 25. Now the Lord Jesus is walking
along with these two men, and he said here unto them in Luke
24, 25, Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart, to
believe all that the prophets have spoken? O mine, ought not
Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his
glory? They were so slow to understand. They didn't even understand what
had happened after our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and risen
again from the dead. They still didn't understand
it. They didn't understand the object of our Lord Jesus Christ's
mission to come into this world to save sinners and to honor
and glorify His Father. You know what they argued over?
They argued over who's going to be first in the kingdom of
God. When God brings in His kingdom, when He sets up His kingdom,
And he sets up his earthly kingdom and knew if God's got a kingdom,
which of us is going to be first? Huh? Oh, Simon Peter, it sure
won't be you. If it's going to be anybody,
it's going to be me. And that's when people, who's going to be
first? And our Lord Jesus Christ, as if they know it, who's going
to be first? And how many preachers have I
heard say, you know, that when God comes and he sets up his
so-called millennial kingdom, they're going to get to rule
over certain cities because they've been so faithful to Christ. And
that's what these fellows are doing. They're arguing over that.
What understanding did they have in the presence of the Lord Jesus
Christ? This wonderful, gracious man,
this lovely, glorious Son of God, and they're arguing over
who's going to be first. When the Lord comes into His
kingdom, who's going to stand in His right hand? Who's He going
to say, this is my most treasured person? Oh, my. And Thomas, our
Lord Jesus Christ, said, I go away. I go away, and to where
I go, you know, and the way you know. And old Thomas said, no,
we don't know the way. We don't know where you're going,
and we don't know the way to get there. After the Lord Jesus Christ had
told him time and time and time and time again that I am He,
I came from glory. I came from the Father. The words
that I speak come from the Father and I'm going to go back to the
Father. And if you're going to come to the Father, you've got
to come to me. Don't speak to the Father unless you speak to
me. Oh, he said, but we don't know where
you're going and we sure don't know the way. This is after three
years. Oh, how pitiful was he for them.
And then one time he told them to beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees and their lack of understanding. And you know what the first thing
they said? Is he saying this because we didn't bring any bread?
We ain't got no bread with us? And he says, oh, don't you all
remember that I paid five thousand and paid four thousand over there
with a few fish and a few loaves? He said, I'm not talking about
bread, I'm talking about doctrine, the leaven, the doctrine of the
Pharisees. And he told them all one time,
he said, I've got so many things to say unto you, but you know
what? You're not able to bear them. You're not able to bear
them. Instead of getting angry at them
and saying, you poor, dumb, ignorant, No, no, he said, I've got some
things to tell you. I've got some things to teach
you. And you're not able to bear them. But I'll bear with you
until you are able to bear them. That's what he says. Oh, that's
what he says. And all of you love him. What
tender pity. And you know how pitiful and patient he was with
our Lord Jesus Christ was. And they showed such a harsh,
harsh spirit. Look with me over here in Luke
chapter 9. They showed not only were they slow, slow to understand,
But they had a harsh spirit, harsh spirit. Look in Luke 9.52 with me just
a minute. And Christ said, verse 51, he
was steadfastly, the time come that he should be received up,
he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent
message before his face and they went and entered into a village
of Samaritans to make ready for him. And then they did not receive
him because his face as though he would go to Jerusalem. Now
watch this. They didn't make ready for him.
And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said,
Lord, We'll doubt that we command fire to come down from heaven
and consume them even as Elijah did. Oh, you're talking about tough.
You're talking about hard. You're talking about hard-hearted.
You want to call down fire from heaven? To kill some people,
destroy some people? Ignorant people? Unbelieving
people? People that didn't receive Christ?
What if He wanted to do that to people that didn't receive
Christ? And He says, Lord, all you've got to do is give us the
Word and we'll call down fire from Heaven itself on these fellows.
We'll just destroy them. What did our Lord Jesus say?
He turned and rebuked them saying, you don't know what manner of
spirit you have. Don't you understand? For the
Son of Man has not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And so they just went on to another
village. And they were so, not only were they hard, they were
bigoted. Bigoted. They saw one casting out devils.
They come to the Lord and said, Lord, we saw a fellow the other
day, he was casting out devils in Your name. And we said, don't
you do that! Stop it right now! All these
fellows was tough. Stop it! Don't you do, don't
you say, And here's the thing, he says, they were doing it in
your name. He says, don't forget them. He that's for me is not
against me. If you're for me, you're not
against me. And that's what he said here.
But these fellows, if you're not with us, if you're not in
our church, if you're not just where we are, he said, you just
sit still and don't you say another word. We're the only ones commissioned
around here to do anything. Oh, this is unbelievable. Look
over with me in Matthew 19. You're talking about some men,
and look how our Lord dealt with them. He was so gracious. In
Matthew 19 and verse 13. Our Lord was so gracious and
so pitiful. As a father pities his children,
even so the Lord pities them that fear him. For he knoweth
our frame, knoweth our frame, remembers that we're just dust.
Oh, look what he says here, verse 13. Then they were brought unto
him little children, that he should put his hands on them,
and pray. What's those next words? And the disciples rebuked them. Children? Little children? Mothers bringing their children?
Fathers bringing their children? And there ain't nothing like
our little children. Grandmas and grandpas bringing their grandchildren.
Lord, please take these children of ours and bless these children.
How many times have we took our children to the Lord in prayer?
And said, Lord, bless our children. Save our children. Save our grandchildren. Where else are we going to take
them? And that's what these people did. They brought their children.
Brought their grandchildren and said, Lord, lay your hands on
them. Pray for them. Bless them. And what did these
disciples say? He ain't got time to fool with
children. Oh, it might be like me telling
you children, don't come to Christ. It might be like me telling you
parents, don't bring your children to Christ. Don't bring your grandchildren
to Christ. Where else are we going to take
them? But these disciples rebuked them. And oh, Bartimaeus, Christ
was walking by and he started crying out, Oh Jesus, now son
of David, have mercy on me. And those fellows are like, shut
up! Just be quiet, don't make so much noise. He cried out the
harder, the louder. They just kept telling him, oh
shut up, he ain't got time for you. But our Lord Jesus stopped. The way we think and the way
everybody thinks, our Lord Jesus don't deal with people that way.
He stopped. He said, bring Bartimaeus over here. The cry of mercy will stop Christ
dead in his tracks. I mean, if he was here in this
service today, if you in your heart says, Lord, O Lord, Thou
Son of David, have mercy on me. He'd stop right beside you. He'd
stop right in front of you. And they say, what was that I
should do for you? But the man said, I want to see.
I have to beg for a living. I'm a poor man. I don't have
no strength, no ability. Just give me my sight. The Lord
Jesus gave him his sight. And what did the scripture say?
He followed Jesus and went on in the way. And that Syro-Phoenician woman
brought her daughter. And just kept praying and finally
the disciple said, send her away. She troubles us. Send her away. She troubles us. What did our
Lord Jesus Christ say? Go your way. Your daughter's
healed this moment. But they wanted her to go. They
wanted her to leave. She troubles us. See, that's
the thing that's troubling them. It didn't trouble the Lord Jesus.
It never troubled him. It troubled them. They're the
ones that didn't want to be troubled. But it never troubled the Lord
Jesus Christ. No. Oh, as a father pitied his
children. But our Lord was so gentle, so
gentle. The scripture says, a bruised
reed he will not break. Oh, you may be so tender, you
know, a bruised wreath he won't make, and smoking flax, he won't
quench it. What patience, what pity, to
bear with such rough men, call far down from heaven, rebuke
children? Tell a man who's crying for mercy
to shut up? Tell a sorrowful Phoenician woman
whose daughter is grievously vexed with the devil, please
have mercy on my daughter, not on me, on my daughter? And they
try to send her away? Oh, what pity to bear with such
rough, rough men! Oh, my! No wonder, he says, as
her father pitied his children, even so the Lord pities him that
pity him. He knoweth our frame. He remembers
that we're dust. They feared Him. These men feared
Him. They loved Him. They weren't rebels. They weren't
rebellious. They were just full of weakness
in the flesh and infirmities and unbelief. And what did He
do? He just bore with them and bore
with them and bore with them. And oh, how did He deal with
them when they not only had a harsh spirit and were so lack of understanding,
but oh, what about their weakness of faith? How did He deal with
them? Do you remember when our Lord Jesus, they was going out
across the sea, and He had worked all day and labored all day,
and He's laying down in that ship, and He was asleep. Storm
come up. Storm come up. And they run down there and woke
Him up. And they was talking to the Master now. And they said,
Teresaume, don't you care enough for us? Don't you love us enough? Ain't you interested in love
enough that you're going to sleep and let us perish? Don't you
love us, care enough for us to let us perish like this? You don't even care enough for
us to let us perish. What did the Lord do? He just
got up and says, when? Be still. The storm stopped just like that. Let them suffer through that
storm. That's why, you know, sometimes, listen, if we'd be
honest with ourselves, how many times have we said, Lord, don't
you care what shape I'm in? Don't you care what condition
I'm in? Don't you understand what I'm going through right
now? Oh, he understands. And you just imagine what a storm
it'd be if he didn't keep it coming. Oh, my. He will not chide, He will not,
He's so merciful, slow to anger? Huh? Oh, what if He rewarded
those fellows according to their sins and their iniquities that
died on that ship for their unbilling? Huh? And oh my, here was another
time, they was out going across the sea and the Lord Jesus Christ
came walking to them on the water. Here He comes walking. And they
looked out there and said, Oh my, that's the Spirit that you
don't The Lord says, be of good cheer. Don't be afraid. It's
Me. It's Me. No sign that Peter says, Lord,
if it is You, if it is You... How many times have we said,
Lord, if this is You, Lord, if it is You, tell me, Lord. He said, come on, Peter. Peter
got up on the hole in that boat and just stepped right off on
top of the water. That would be like me standing up here in
that big ocean right there, and me just step off. That's why
Simon Peter got up on the edge of that boat, stepped right off
that boat, in that water, and he went to walk. The great big
wave rolled up in front of him, and he said, Oh Lord! I'm going
to die! You are the Lord Jesus. You know
what he said, boy? Just as he got it by the hand,
he says, Peter, wherefore didst thou doubt? Wherefore did you
doubt? If I told you to walk, come to
me, you could come to me. If He told you to come on the
water, you can come on the water. If He tells you to come on dry
land, you can come on dry land. If He's on the mountain and He
tells you to come, you can come. Wherefore did you doubt? Oh my! And then He fed and feed those
multitude. One time He fed five thousand
with five loaves and two fish. And they were So a week had been
fought in three days, and the Lord Jesus says, set them down
and feed them. He said, Lord, how are we going
to feed them? We ain't got no money to buy.
And the town's a long way off. They automatically start thinking
in terms of material things. How are we going to feed them? And then that 4,000, he told
them, he says, you know, tell those folks to sit down there.
He says, Lord, where are we going to get enough for them, to feed
them? Well, we got a few pennies here. Where are we going to buy
enough food? And was there enough food in
town to buy? And they'd already forgot him feeding that 5,000
with the two loaves and the five pigs. Already forgot that. Well,
back to the fact, we only got a few pennies here, how are we
going to get enough to feed these folks? You see, how did he deal
with them? Our Lord wasn't angry with them. He pitied them as
a father pitied his children. And even after three years, after
three years being with the Lord Jesus Christ, after he was crucified,
after the disciples had saw him, Thomas told them, he said, I
am not going to believe until I can stick my finger in those,
I see him on the cross. I seen those nails in his hands.
And I seen that spear. I seen that Roman soldier take
that spear and slice his side open. And he said, except I see and
put my own finger in that nail and I can stick my hand in that
side, I'm not going to believe. He no sooner got the words out
of his mouth and the Lord Jesus stood in front of him. I've been near you and I've said
this life, if you don't want to believe, go on to hell if
you want to. But that's not what our Lord said. He just stood
right in front of me. He said, here Thomas, here, if
that's what it takes for you to believe, you're one of mine. If this is what it takes for
you to believe, go ahead and stick your finger in there. And he
turned his side around. If that's what it takes, go ahead,
go ahead, put your hand in there. You know what Thomas said? He
fell on his knees and said, My Lord, my God. That's how gracious our Lord
is, how pitiful He is towards us. Instead of rebuking Him for
His unbelief, He just stood right in front of him. That's what
it's going to take. That's what I'll give you. Whatever it takes,
that's what I'll do. Oh, how gracious. And then prior,
these fellows, not only was they We can face, but oh my, they
had such pride. They strived and strived. You
know, right after the Lord's table, after they took the Lord's
supper, they strived and strived over who's going to be the greatest.
Who's going to be the greatest among us? And you know, I could
just hear those fellas. I could hear them. They sitting
around talking. Who's the greatest among us? Who's going to be the
greatest? I'll tell you why. I said, you
know, I tell you, I got this quality. I've got more faith
than you've got. Simon Peter said, at least I
walked on the water. Nathaniel says, you know, he
told me I had no doubt in me. Matthew said, I was a publican
and look what he done for me. I was a publican. And the whole
lot of them says, well you know what? They started talking about
what works they had done, how much preaching they had done,
how many devils they had cast down. And they started talking
about what accomplishments they had, how close, I'm closer to
the Lord than you are, I spend more time with him than you have,
I was up on the mountain with him when he was transfigured.
And they'd go on and on about who's the greatest among us.
Start talking about how great they was, how accomplishments
they made, how much cities they'd went, all the faith they had,
they just went on and on and on about it. Now, you get around a bunch of
preachers. One day, just started telling
somebody to tell them what they had done. They come to you. They'll
ask me the other day, how's things going at the church? I said,
going wonderful. He said, have you had any baptisms?
I said, no, not in a while. Not in a while. And I said, you know, I believe
in letting the Lord. I said, I'll leave him alone.
If anybody wants to be baptized, they've got to tell me. I don't
tell them. If anybody God does anything to them, they tell us.
We don't tell them. And he started talking to me
about how he was trying to win somebody to the Lord. Just almost had
him won. And somebody gave him a bad reputation to that fellow.
I said, almost had him won to the Lord. There we are. Talking
about what you accomplished. Almost ain't enough. That's a
good thing He didn't lead him to the Lord, ain't it? It's a
good thing He didn't. And oh my, you know after our
Lord Jesus Christ washed their feet, got down, got on His knees
with a towel and took water and went around every one of those
disciples and began to wash their feet. You know what they've done? I'm closer to the Lord than you
are. I've done more than you do. I'm greater. And that's what
they argued over. Even after Christ said, you know
what I've just done for you? You know what I've just done
for you? He said, that's what you need to do for another. Don't
go around talking about what you've done. If you see your
brother's feet and his walk is not right, don't rebuke him. Pray for him. And oh my, Miss Simon Peter,
oh you're talking about pride. The Lord Jesus Christ just got
through telling me. Flesh and blood did not reveal
unto you that I'm the Son of the living God, that my Father
which is in heaven. And then our Lord says, you know
it. I must, the Son of Man, I must go up to Jerusalem. I must be
delivered into the hands of sinners. I must be crucified. I must die. And Simon, Peter, Rench, and
Blake got ahold of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rench got ahold of Him.
And said, Lord, be that far from Him. That's not going to happen
to you. I'm not going to let it. Such
pride to tell Christ what He couldn't do and shouldn't do.
Oh, my. And then when they got in
the garden, When our Lord Jesus Christ says, you know they're
going to come and get me. They're going to put me on trial. I'm
going to die. And old Simon Peter and all the
rest of them said, Lord, if you go to jail, we'll go to jail
with you. If you die, we'll die with you. We're going to stand
with you through thick or thin. Well, they got off in the garden.
And our Lord Jesus said, you all sit here and pray. Sit here
and pray. I'm going to go over here and
I'm going to pray. And he got down over here and
he began to pray. And he was praying so earnestly that the
sweat began to turn into drops of blood. And he'd tell these
fellas, sit over here and pray. Pray. Now why'd they gonna pray
for him? First of all, they ought to be praying for the chef that
I could fulfill what I said I was gonna do. I told you I'd be faithful
to you, I won't. I will. Our Lord got up and went
over there. Every single one of them was
asleep. Every single one of them was sitting there asleep. He
woke them up. He said, could you just watch
for an hour? And they woke up and said, oh
Lord, yes, we'll pray. They went back home and started
praying again. Got up and went back over. I
said, sleep on now. Take your rest. They said, we're
not going to forsake you. And they couldn't even stay awake
to pray for the Lord Jesus. He said, just go ahead and take
your rest. Take your rest. Oh my, let me show you this over
in Luke. Let me show you, Luke 22. You know, and then when Peter
denied the Lord Jesus Christ, and he went in, they took him
in to put him on trial. And they brought him into the
Herod's temple there and then over to Pilate and back to Herod. And three hundred times this
woman says, you know, I saw you with him. I don't know that man.
You're a Galilean and your speech tells us that you're a Galilean.
I don't know that man. May said, this is one with him. I don't know that man. And look
what happens here at verse 60. Luke 22 and 60. And Peter said, I know not what thou sayest.
And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crewed. Now watch
this. And the Lord turned and looked
upon Peter. The Lord turned and looked at
him. He just got through saying, I don't know that man. And the
Lord Jesus is found and he turns. Where stands Peter? And he looked at him. He didn't
look with anger, no malice. He looked with such pity, such
compassion, such understanding. And watch what happens. And Peter
remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him before,
the cock crowed, thou shalt deny me Christ. And Peter went out
and wept bitterly. He looked with pity and saw.
Now look over here to Luke and Mark, Chapter 16, the last book
of Mark. Go back to Luke Chapter 1, and
then you'll be back there in Mark. Mark Chapter 16, look what
a howl of blasphemy our Lord is. Oh, as a father pities his
children, even so the Lord pities them that fear him. He knoweth
our praying. He remembers that we're dying.
Now look what happens. In verse 6 of Mark Chapter 16. And he said unto them, Be not
affrighted, ye see Jesus of Nazareth which was crucified, he is risen,
he is not here. Behold the place where they laid
him. But go your way, and tell his
disciples, and Peter, make sure you let Peter know this. Peter
denied me three times, but I want him to know. You go and tell
his disciples, and Peter, he is the most braggadocious one.
that he goeth before you in the Galilee, there shall you see,
as he said unto you." Oh, what a gracious, gracious Lord he
is. Oh my, you know what the only rebuke our Lord Jesus Christ
ever really gave him? After he had seen them out fishing,
he had built the fire, they had the fire there and the fish on
it, and they come back and they sit there on the land, and you
know what he said to Simon? The rebuke he gave to him for
denying it. Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me? That's all I
want to know. Do you love me? I don't want
to remind you that you died three times. I don't want to tell you
about how your faith failed you just walking on the water. I
don't want to remind you about you grabbing me by the arm and
telling me I wasn't going to be crucified, wasn't going to
happen. I'm not going to remind you of how you cut off that service
here. I'm not going to remind you of
those things. You know what? I just want to
know one thing. Do you love me? That's the only
thing I'm interested in. It's watching your heart towards
me. I know you sin. I know you weep. I know you fail. I know you've done a thousand
things contrary to me. The only thing I'm interested
in is what's in your heart when you feel that way. That's what
I'm interested in. Oh, bless His holy name. And you know, what was the greatest
rebuke of them? It was His own perfection. His
own example. His own perfection. He taught
them humility. How? By His own humility. He taught them gentleness. How?
by His own gentleness. They saw their own infirmities
in the presence of His perfections. They saw their lack of purity
in light of His holiness. And they pitied Him. And how
could He have such patience? How could He have such pity?
Because of what He is, perfect humanity. He's God manifest in
the flesh. He was so good, so gracious,
He was perfect. And being perfect, He could bear
with frail, sinful flesh. You know the reason you and I
can't bear with the weak? Because we're weak. You know
why we can't bear with those who are so slow of understanding?
Because we're so slow of understanding. But our Lord Jesus Christ was
completely unselfish. He never put self in the position,
never put self in the place of himself. He put everybody else
in front of himself. And when you're like this, when
you're totally unselfish, you can't be hurt. And that's why
our Lord Jesus was never hurt by these men. Because he never
considered himself, he only considered them. And what needed to be done
for them. He bore with them, he pitied
them blind because of his relationship to them. He said, I've loved
you with an everlasting love and with cords of loving kindness
have I drawn you. Having loved his only love until
the very end. He recalled him, he called him
his children. Children? Had he got any bread? Or he called him his chosen.
He says, these are the ones that the Father gave me. He said,
I am the children which the Father hath given. He's the shepherd
of the sheep. He said, I lay down my life for the sheep. I'm
the doer of the sheep. I'll never lose any of the sheep
that you give to me. They'll never perish. And He's
their Savior. Why would He be their Savior
if He don't save them? Why would He call Himself Savior
if He doesn't want to save them? Because He calls Himself the
Savior, does that mean He's not going to save them? No, He's
going to save them no matter what they do. No matter how they
act. No matter how much they fail.
No matter what sin they commit. He's not going to finish. Quit
saving them. And He's the surety. Father,
whatever they owe You, You come and take it from Me. I'll stand
good for them. I'll be their guarantee. I'll
stand good for everything that's wrong with them. And truly, truly, he's a brother
born through adversity. When we're in adversity, he's
that brother right there to help us, to see us through it. And
I'll tell you this quickly, and I'll hurry. He knew the future
of these apostles. He knew the future of every disciple.
He knew that after his death, his resurrection, his ascension,
that they would remember all these things. They'd talk among
themselves. You know, just as quick as that
rooster crowed, the Lord looked at him, he remembered the words
of the Lord. You look how many times it says
in Luke 24, and they remembered the word of the Lord. And all
through action, they remembered. That's why Peter said, I want
to put you in remembrance, though you know these things. And he
knowed that they'd talk among themselves, and they'd say, you
remember the Lord said this, and we were so slow of understanding,
we just didn't get it. Why didn't we understand? He
told us time and time again. How could He bear with us when
we were so miserably cold and so miserably arrogant, so hard? Why did He put up with us? John
said, How could I have ever thought? And John was the one who talked
about love. Love. John's a beloved disciple.
And he said, How could I have ever? How could He bear with
me when I wanted to call fire down from heaven? How can he
ever bear with me when I've done such things? Huh? Oh, they would remember. Oh my,
every time they'd get in a trial, every time they'd get in trouble,
they would remember their cowardice at his trial. They would remember
their denial. That's why when Peter was in
jail the first time, you know what he done? He laid down and
went to sleep. And an angel had to wake him
up to get him out of there. If you talk about a changed man,
he was a changed man before he denied the Lord, and now they
had to wake him up to get him out of jail. He was sleeping
so well. Oh, listen, he changes his people.
And let me tell you this, some things for us. As a father pities his children,
even so the Lord pities them that fear Him. I thank God for
that verse. For He knoweth our frame. Remember when you was 25, how
strong you was? Look at your frame now. Going a little slower,
a little stooped back, voice a little weaker. He knows your
frame. He knows you. And He remembers. We sometimes, we forget, but
He never forgets. He remembers that we're just
dust. And so what should we do? Let's
be like our Master. Let's pity. Pity one another. Pity those that don't see, those
that don't know, don't understand like us. Just don't be so harsh.
Just don't be so full of pride. Just don't be so unbelieving.
You know, you're converted through imperfect preaching. So an imperfect
preacher is preaching to imperfect people. So why would we get upset
with people that's imperfect? Oh, pity, pity, pity. And as
our Heavenly Father, and I want you to, I'm going to show you
one verse of Scripture, and I'm through. Colossians chapter 3. Our Heavenly Father has pity
upon us. So let's have pity upon one another.
Have pity upon one another. And pity is much, much different
than feeling sorry for somebody. It's actually putting yourself
in their position. And you know, when somebody's
pitiful, you see somebody pitiful. They're in a situation that they
can do nothing about. They can't change themselves.
They want to, but they can't. So that's where pity comes in. In Colossians 3, verse 12, look
what it says. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God, your holy and your beloved of God, put on vows of mercies,
that word vows means heart, put on a heart full of mercies, kindness,
humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one
another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel or
a complaint against any, listen now, even as Christ forgave,
so also do ye. And above all these things, put
on charity, That's what's the bond of perfectness, bond of
perfectness. And remember, beloved, the gentleness,
the patience of our Lord Jesus Christ towards his disciples.
And you remember it now, even the condition you're now in.
God only knows what condition you are in your heart, in your
mind, in your soul. Remember His patience and pity
towards you if you're cold, if you're prayerless, if you sin,
if you've fallen through some weakness of the flesh. Remember
this, as a father pitieth his children, even so the Lord pitieth
them that fear Him. I fear Him. I hold Him in reverence. For He knows, He knows my frame. He knows your frame. And he remembers
that we're just dust, and dust can be blown away. But he don't
do that to us. He holds us up. Our blessed, blessed, gracious
Father, how wonderfully merciful and gracious you are. Thank you
for meeting with us today, thank you for your precious word. God
bless it to our hearts, bless it to our understanding. Lord
help us please to honor you, put on these things, put on Christ
himself. And Lord God, Tell some to come to you as you
told Simon Peter to come. I know the storm's raging. Raging in hearts, raging in souls,
raging around them. And yet, Lord Jesus, they'll
perish if they don't come. So bid them come to you. Bid
them come to you. And in coming, you'll save them. We bless you for this wondrous,
glorious gospel. And bless you, Lord Jesus, for
your wonderful love and grace, patience and pity you show towards
your people. We thank you in Christ's name.
Amen.