Turn back to Matthew chapter
9. Matthew chapter 9. The title of this message is
Compassions Fail Not. They fail not. As we read over
in Lamentations, they are new every morning. New. Compassion sums up the life of
our Lord, compassion, compassion. He went about doing good all
the time. He was full of tender mercy towards
sinners like us, all the time, all the time. He said at one
place, the disciples said, would you have us to pull fire down
out of He said, I didn't come to destroy men's lives. I came
to save. Look over in Psalm 78. Let me
just read you two or three scriptures. Over here in Psalm 78. In Psalm
78, in verse 38, Let me read verse thirty-seven
with it. For their heart was not right with him, neither were
they steadfast in his covenant. But he, being full of compassion,
forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not. Yea, many a time turned
he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. Compassion. Look over in Psalm
145. In Psalm 145, in verse 8, this is a description of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord is gracious and full,
filled up of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all, and
His tender mercies are over all his works." Back over here in
Lamentation, I already have it marked. In verse 32 of that chapter
3 that I read, but though he calls grief, though he sends
trials, he calls grief, yet will he have compassion according
to the multitude of his mercies. He was compassionate. His compassions,
it says, are new every morning. I'm sure that doctors get tired
of hearing of our sicknesses. Don't you know they go home at
the end of the day after years of doing this, tired of hearing
about it. That's probably one of the reasons
we have to pay them so much. They've got to listen to it.
We would probably start charging that kind of price, too. They
get tired of hearing of our sicknesses, but our Lord, this struck me,
our Lord never, never grew tired of hearing of our sicknesses,
our cries for mercy, our pleas for help. He never grew tired
of it. In fact, listen, He listens to
us No charge. He never charged anyone
whom he healed. You go through the Gospels, no
one. He says in Hosea, I will love
them freely. I will love them freely. He was
so moved with compassion. that it became visible. Upon
his face, upon his countenance, it became visible. He was so
moved. This word means he was full of
emotion. It means that his bowels, the
old writers used to call, when they talk about passion, compassion,
they talk about the bowels of mercy. It means that his bowels were
agitated. His very inward being, His very
physical being was so moved and agitated with compassion when
he looked on that crowd. I've never been moved like that
with compassion, but he was moved that way. Vehement, it means
vehement affection. Can you imagine? He looked on
that multitude. The disciples looked on the same multitude,
but they didn't see what he saw. But he looked on that multitude
and it was with vehement affection that he looked at them and was
moved, it says, moved with compassion. Now, let me pick up here in verse
32. It says here, as they went out, our Lord goes from one miracle
to another. There were no shortage of needy
people. There's no shortage of needy
people, not at all. The world was his hospital. The
world was the great physician's hospital. He went from one patient
to another. He said, I must need to go through
some area. I have a patient there that I've
got to take care of, that woman at the well. He would go from
one patient to another. And then as he was going out
here, here's another one of his patients. There is a man possessed. with the devil. He's a dumb,
dumb man. That is, he cannot speak. His
mouth will shut up. And our Lord meets this man.
This man meets him. They meet. And he casts out this
devil. And the first thing this man
does is speak. Our Lord demonstrates his power
over Satan by casting him out with just a word. With just a
word. And he loosed that man's tongue.
And that man was able for the first time to praise God and
to give God the glory for doing this thing for him. Satan may
bind us for a while, but when the strong man of the house,
the Lord Jesus Christ, he's the strong man of the house, when
he takes over, when he takes over, Satan has to go. He has to go, and his power is
broken, and the Son sets us free. A man is not free until the Lord
sets him free. Until then, he's under another
spirit. And notice here how complete
his work is. It says, The dumb spake. The
dumb spake. But Satan had closed. Christ
had opened. Satan would shut the eyes and
the mouth and the ears of all men and women from the gospel.
He hath blinded the minds, it says, of them which believe not.
He would shut them off because He does not want God to have
the glory that belongs to Him. He does not want God to receive
the glory from His own creation. But He's going to have it. God's
going to have the glory of His creation. He's going to cast
Satan out. And He's going to receive all
honor and all glory when this thing is over with. Those Pharisees
now, they're in verse 34, and the Pharisees said, He casteth
out devils through the press of the devils. He's in cahoots
with Satan. Him and Satan's in cahoots together
so that they may dupe the people. This borders on the unpardonable
sin because they was charging his work to the work of Satan. But listen, Satan is so subtle. He is so subtle. If he cannot
get at us on the inside, he will attack from the outside. He will
come at us from the outside. He never rests. He knows his
time is short. Scripture says he goes about
like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And his greatest
weapon, you know what his greatest weapon is? Religion. His greatest weapon is religion. Get people religious. Get them
in a false refuge and you got them. He would rather, Satan
would rather have you in a false refuge than in a bar. He'd much rather have you there.
in a false refuge than in a barn. That's where he does his most
work. That's where he does his most damage is right from the
pulpit. I watched a man just for a little
while this morning preaching on television, using the Word
of God, reading the Word of God, but totally, totally Missing it. Just totally missing
it. And that room was full. And they were shouting, and this
guy was just ranting and raving, and they were shouting and carrying
on. And they thought they were listening to a message from God. That was a message from Satan.
The man didn't even touch the gospel. He does his most damage
standing right in the pulpit, duping the people. Christ told
those Pharisees, He said, You come to see in land, and you
You make proselytes, and when you make proselytes, you make
them what? Two-folded children of hell.
Two-folded children of hell. He does his most damage in false
religion. Now it says here in verse 35,
he went about. He went about. This didn't stop
him. This didn't stop him. Our Lord went about. The physician
is making his rounds. He's making his rounds. His work
was not halted or slowed down by the attack of Satan or the
Pharisees. Not at all. The gates of hell,
he said, the gates of hell shall not prevail against you. The
gates of hell will not keep out the gospel. It will not keep
it out. Not at all. And he went forward
and he preached. He preached the gospel. He went
forward saving sinners. He preached, it says, he preached
here, it says, in every city, in every city, he went and preached,
let's see here, and Jesus went about all the cities and villages,
everywhere. He went to the small places,
the villages, the places that others wouldn't
go to, they wouldn't go to those villages. What's down in those
villages? Sinners. Sinners are in those villages.
I lived in a town of 2,500 people. Compared to a lot of places,
that would be just a village. I'm sure glad he passed by that
way one day. I'm sure glad the great physician
made his round that day. I'm sure glad he did. He went
about. He didn't sit about. He went
about. He walked about. He was busy. I want you to get this picture. Our Lord, the great physician
here, was busy. One day he would cast out the
demon, and another day he would heal a woman with an issue of
blood. He would heal a man with a palsy. He would heal a leper.
He went about saving sinners. That's what he did. He went about.
And he went about all the cities and the villages teaching in
their synagogues. He'd go to those synagogues where
they would gather, and he'd go in there, and he would take over.
He'd take over. preaching the gospel of the kingdom. He went into the synagogues to
expound the Old Testament, the types and the pictures. Oh, don't
you know how beautifully he expounded those? He would talk about that Passover
lamb. He would talk about that tabernacle.
You know he took the Old Testament and he expounded them. And then
he'd reveal the new, how they are fulfilled in him. that knew the new covenant, and
he had healed all that needed healing. And his message was
his medicine, preaching the gospel of the kingdom. That's what he
did, the gospel of grace for the guilty. Anybody guilty? Grace is for the guilty. He preached
the gospel of how God can be a just God and justify the ungodly. Anybody interested in that? He
preached the gospel of substitution and satisfaction. He went about
preaching the gospel of the kingdom. That was his medicine. And after
he would do this, after he preached the gospel, then he would save. That's the order of it. That's
the order. He'd preach the gospel, and then
he would heal. Man's got to hear the gospel
first. A man has got to hear the gospel.
If God's going to save someone, if he's going to save a sinner,
that sinner is going to hear the gospel of God's glory. He's
going to hear the gospel concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. He's going
to hear the gospel of substitution. He's going to hear the gospel,
and then the Lord's going to save. You see, after he preached
the gospel of the kingdom, then he says he healed, or healing,
every sickness. Oh, how comprehensive is that?
Every sickness. One may think they've gone too
far. Their sin is just so black. Their life is so vile. And it
says here, every sickness and every disease he healed. Well, that gives hope, doesn't
it? That gives any sinner No matter what station in life that
sinner is, that gives any sinner a hope, a ground of hope. Every
sickness and every disease among the people. That's what he did.
He's the Savior. He is the Savior. No case is
too hard for our Lord to save. No case. Every sickness and every disease. Every soul sickness, sin sickness,
our Lord can heal. He can heal. This ought to encourage
even the vilest of men, shouldn't it? This will encourage, if God
uses it. If God uses it, this will encourage
even the vilest of sinners. And then it says here in verse
36, Here in verse 36, when he saw
the multitude, when he looked upon that multitude, he saw the
same multitude the disciples saw, but they didn't see the
same thing. They did not see the same thing.
When he saw the multitudes, he was moved. He was full of emotion,
agitated. They could see it on his face.
They could see it on his expression. He was moved with compassion
on them. He didn't just feel sorry for
them. He did something about it. He did something about it. Because they fainted. It says
over in the margin there, they were tired. This people had been
following Him. And they had not stopped to eat.
They had not stopped to go home and rest. They had been going
and going and going. It says there they were tired
and laid down. The people started laying down.
They were so wore out following Him. And He looked at them, and
He was moved with compassion on this crowd. And He says here,
"...and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd."
I can just picture this. They looked confused. See, they
heard Him preach in the synagogues. They'd been following Him, what
He was preaching. What he was teaching was not
matching the traditions which the Pharisees and the elders
had been teaching them. And so I could see this confusion
on their face. He's saying this. He's preaching
the Word. But the Pharisees taught the
tradition of men and the elders and their forefathers and all
those lies that had compounded. And they were like confused. He said they were like sheep
scattered. That's what he saw. They were like sheep scattered.
What did he see? When he saw the multitude, what did he see?
He saw blind eyes. I mean spiritually blind eyes.
He saw spiritual hard hearts. He saw spiritual deaf ears. This
is what he saw. He saw spiritually dead souls. This is what God sees. We see
men who have eyes But yet they don't. Because the Lord says
they're blind. By nature, all men are blind.
He saw them as they really were. He saw that. That's what He saw.
You see, we see madmen. He saw men possessed. It's a
difference. It's a difference. And what He
saw moved Him with compassion. Full of emotion. desire to save. That's what he came to do. He
came to save. He saw their true religious condition. He saw sheep that had been fleeced
by a bunch of false shepherds, been taken advantage of. Let
me read you something over here in Ezekiel 34. Over here in Ezekiel 34, here's
what our Lord saw. And the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds
of Israel. Prophesy, saying to them, Thus
saith the Lord God unto the shepherds, Woe be to the shepherds of Israel
that do feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed
the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool?
You kill them that are fed, but you feed not the flock. This
is what he saw. He saw a multitude of people
who had been lied to, taken advantage of. There's people that were
following him. There's a common people, no doubt,
most of them. I say most of them were just a common people. But
he saw people that had been taken advantage of, people who had
been fleeced by these ferrets, lied to, duped, like sheep having
no shepherds. It says here, the disease have
you not strengthened? Neither have you healed that
which was sick. Neither have you bound up that which was broken.
Neither have you brought again that which was driven away. Neither
have you sought that which was law, but with force and with
cruelty have you ruled them. That's what he saw. That's what
he saw when he looked at this multitude. And he had compassion
on them. He had compassion. He saw a fainting
crowd. A fainting crowd. He saw their
want of comfort. God said over in Isaiah, comfort
ye, comfort ye my people. And they didn't do it. They took
advantage of it. They used cruelty against them.
He saw a crowd in want of comfort. He saw their want of righteousness.
He saw a crowd that had gone about trying to establish their
own righteousness. They didn't have any. He saw their want of guidance. Like he says here, sheep having
no shepherd. You know what he saw? Lost. Lost. My, what an awful word that is.
Lost. That's what he saw. He came to
seek and save that which was lost. That's what he saw. He saw loss.
And he said to his disciples, he said, the harvest truly is
plenteous. Plenty of centers out there.
There are plenty of centers. The world's full of them. The world is full. The harvest
truly is plenteous. But the laborers, laborers, they're
few. There are few. There is no shortage of sinners,
but there is a shortage of laborers. There is a shortage of God sent
laborers. We have plenty of lawyers, few
laborers, few of them. We need laborers who are sold
out, sold out and committed to the gospel. That's what we need. Laborers who are not afraid to
get their hands dirty. I'm finding it harder and harder
to find young men who are not afraid to get their hands dirty
at the shop. I'm serious. You just can't hardly
find that. They think it's kind of demeaning to them to get dirty. He said we need laborers. Men
are not afraid to get their hands dirty. Laborers who are not afraid
to work long hours at the plow in the field. If the ministry
is done properly, it is a laborer. Labor of love, but it is a laborer
if it is done properly. Laborers who deny all for the
Lord and the harvest's sake. Not worrying about what am I
going to get out of it at the end of the day. But they deny everything for
the Lord of the harvest sake. And now he instructs us as what
to do about this. The harvest is plenteous. He
looks at that multitude. He sees all that I've mentioned. He sees all that. And he says
the harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few. What are
we going to do about this? Here's what he says. Don't you go out and hire them.
Don't you go out and try to get laborers to come in. You're going
to make a mess of it. Now, here's what would happen
if we go out and get the laborers. Here's what's going to happen.
We are going to get the most talented. We are going to get
those who have the most charisma. Those who are more likely will
draw a crowd and can hold people's attention when they speak. We
will get the best speakers, best orators out there. That's what
we would do. What does God do? He takes a man who's been on
the backside of a desert for four years, instructs him, teaches
him, and then makes a laborer out of him. He said, no, you
pray that the Lord of the harvest send forth labor. He'll do it.
You trust him to do it, but you ask him to do it, and you pray
for him to do it. But he'll do it. Let him do it. If we jump out and start doing
it, that's where you get in trouble. Was it Samuel? It was Samuel.
He went through all the sons of Jesse. He said, now, is there
anybody else? But the first one he went to
was what? The tallest, most handsome. Oh, the people are going to be
impressed with this one. People will follow this one.
Sheep follow the shepherd. And that's what we're interested
in. And that's what our Lord is interested in. And He'll take
a man, usually that no one really think about, and make a labor
out of him. But first, He's got to teach
him and instruct him. But He said, pray. Pray. Our greatest
weapon here is prayer. I don't think we've even begun
to scratch. the importance and the power of prayer. We haven't
begun to even scratch it. We are commanded to pray to Him
to send forth laborers, not work longer hours. It's not us work
longer hours. It's pray the Lord in the harvest.
We'll raise up gospel preachers and send them into the harvest. Send them out into the field.
He's commanding his church to pray that he would raise up preachers
to send out to preach the gospel. The harvest needs laborers. God
sent preachers. God sent preachers. And notice,
as I said here, he sends. Pray the Lord of the harvest
that he send. He sends forth the best laborers,
doesn't he? If God sends the laborer, the people will be blessed
and the work will prosper. If God sends the laborer, if
God sends the preacher, if you just pick one because he's can
do this and that and impressive, God's not going to be in it.
He's not going to be in it. He sends forth the best laborers. And if he doesn't send them,
you don't want them. You don't want, they'll pick
green fruit every time. They'll pick, be like my sister.
When we were young and on the farm, we had to pick strawberries.
She'd pick the blooms off so we didn't have to go pick strawberries
again. She would pick the blooms off.
That way you didn't have to go back and pick strawberries again. That's what these guys
that are not called of God, they'll pick the blooms off. They'll
destroy it. They'll destroy the fruit before
it's ever there. God sends them forth. Pray the Lord the harvest. The harvest, listen, the harvest
is His. It's His. He's the one who's going to raise
the crop. He's the one who gives the increase.
It's His. It belongs to Him. It's not my
harvest. I may preach, plow, plant, and
someone may water, but God gives the ink. It's God who gives life.
I don't give life. I cannot give life, forgiveness,
righteousness. I cannot give any of that. But
the Lord of the Harvest can. The Lord of the Harvest who is
full of compassion. Full of compassion. I thought
of Boaz. Thought of Boaz when he told
him to leave handfuls on purpose. That's compassion. That's compassion. And that's
our Lord. That describes our Lord. Full
of compassion. Let us pray that the Lord will
use us. I want to be used, and I want
this church to be used in the harvest. While we are here, while
we have our time on this earth, what time we have left, I do
pray the Lord use us. And I pray the Lord would raise
up some men to preach the gospel. The harvest, he said, now the
Lord said this, the harvest is plenteous. He said it's plenteous. It's plenteous. I wrote this down last night
before I was getting ready to go to bed. Men was the last time
We beg the Lord, beg God, to raise up preachers. When's the last time we have
really prayed that God would raise up some men to preach the
gospel and send them out into the harvest? Our Lord is able to say to the
uttermost. He's a true physician of souls.
Now let's pray, let's pray that He would raise up some men to
preach the gospel, that He would use me standing here to preach
the gospel in the power of His Spirit. I don't want to just
stand here on Wednesdays and Sundays and go verse by verse and tell
you what that verse means and then go home. I want to preach
the gospel like I heard it in power to where
when you go home, I was talking to a man about this last week.
I said, when I heard the gospel from Henry, Henry Mahan, when
I heard the gospel, I said, I went home many, many times, and I
wanted to pray more. I wanted to do better. I wanted to study more. I wanted
to be a better husband, a better worker. When I heard the gospel,
priest, Sunday after Sunday, that's what it made me want to
be. I mean, I felt it, and I wanted that. You want to walk pleasing unto
God. And that's the kind of ministry we want here. I don't want to
just go verse by verse and tell you what it means, but I want
God to speak. I want God to speak in such a
way that it changes lives. Pray ye the Lord of the harvest,
or send forth laborers into the harvest.