Did you notice the last phrase
of verse eight of Philippians chapter one? The bowels of Jesus
Christ. That's the intestines. Of Jesus
Christ. Now, the bowels were known as
the seat of the deepest affections. And emotions. bowels of mercies. You've heard that in the scriptures.
It's the word that's generally translated compassion. I think of that passage of scripture
where that leper came to the Lord and the scripture says Jesus
moved with compassion, touched him. And can you imagine touching
a leprous person like that? But he was moved. He was moved. with compassion. I've entitled
this message, The Compassion of Christ. Would to God that
he would help me preach this message. The compassion of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want to give you a couple
of scriptures from the Old Testament that give us some idea of what
this word compassion means. Would you turn to Genesis 43? This is when Joseph saw Benjamin
after all these years. He sees him for the first time,
and he lifted up his eyes. Genesis 43, verse 29, and he
saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this
your younger brother of whom you spake unto me? And he said,
God be gracious unto thee, my son. And Joseph made haste for
his bowels did yearn upon his brother. Now, can you get a hold
of the bowels of the Lord Jesus Christ yearning for you? I just have a hard time getting
hold of that. I know it's so. The bowels, the
deep compassions of Christ yearning. For you. Turn to. First Kings chapter 3. This is when Solomon had commanded
that the baby be cut in half and each half given to. Each
woman who claimed it was hers and one obviously had no interest
in that baby being cut in half, look in verse 26 of First Kings
chapter 3. Then spake the woman whose the
living child was under the king for her bowels. yearned upon
her son. And she said, oh, my Lord, give
her the living child and know why slay it. But the other said,
let it be neither mine or thine, but divide it. Now, the vows
of Christ yearning in compassion. Compassion. Is an attribute of
God. In Exodus chapter 33, verses
18 and 19, when Moses said, Show me your glory. He said, I'll
make all my goodness pass before thee. I'll proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee, and I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious and I will show mercy. The word there is compassion.
I will show compassion to whom I will show compassion. It's an attribute of God. He
must be compassionate because he is compassionate. I'd like to read a passage of
scripture to you from Micah, chapter seven. You can listen.
Verse 18, who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity
and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage.
He retaineth not his anger forever because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again. He will.
have compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities,
and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."
Now, I hope that we're compassionate men and women. I desperately
hope that I know something of this and that you know something
of this. But our compassion is nothing like His compassion. You see, how many times have
you felt strong compassion for somebody and you forgot about
it shortly? You felt compassion, you felt
moved at their situation or their misery and wanted to do something
for them, you felt truly moved and you forgot. Or how many times
have you felt compassion toward someone that you didn't have
the ability to relieve whatever their situation was? But here's
what's different between our compassion and the Lord's compassion.
He never forgets. His compassion never loses power,
never ceases, never loses its strength and compassion, and
he has the power to relieve those he has compassion towards. The
compassion, oh, the compassion, the bowels of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We are forgiven because of his
compassion. Turn with me to Psalm 78. Psalm
78. Verse 36. Let's remember, let's listen
to verse 35, and they remembered that God was their rock and the
high God, their redeemer. They remembered something good.
Nevertheless, they did flatter him with their mouth. And they
lied unto him with their tongues, 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. All because of his compassion.
Now, you read that description of those people, there wasn't
anything about them that merited God's favor, was there? Not a
thing. But he, this is who he is. This is his nature. He being
full of compassion, forgave their iniquity. This is what the Bible
calls tender mercies. Tender mercies. David said in
Psalm 51, 1, have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving
kindness, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. Compassions,
blot out my iniquities. Well did Jeremiah say, it's at
the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions
fail not. Great is thy faithfulness. Now I want us to look at the
scriptures where the Lord was said to be moved with compassion. Would you turn with me to Matthew
chapter 9? Verse 36. But when he saw the multitudes. He was moved. With compassion
on them. You know, I go into a Walmart
and see the multitudes and I get so irritated. bumping into people,
just the multitude. You know, I get creeps when I
go in there. The Lord was in a much more dense,
being pressed upon position. And he was moved with compassion
on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad. as
sheep having no shepherd. Fainted, weak, scattered abroad
means laying prostrate in weakness. Sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord was moved with compassion
toward these people. How does a sheep get along without
a shepherd? How easily sheep stray off. How dumb sheep are. How filthy
sheep can become. And every sheep knows that. And
how a sheep needs a shepherd. What does a shepherd do? He leads
the sheep. He feeds the sheep. And he protects
the sheep. and how we need our great shepherd. And when the Lord saw these people
as sheep without a shepherd, he was moved to compassion, and
it made him say in verse 37, Then saith unto his disciples,
The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray
ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth
laborers into his harvest. Turn to Matthew chapter 14. Verse 13. And when Jesus heard
of it. He departed then by ship into
a desert place apart. I believe he was in some respects
mourning at the death of John the Baptist. He loved him dearly. He had just been beheaded. He
wanted to be alone. And when the people had heard
thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities And Jesus
went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion
toward them. And he healed their sick. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
physician of souls. The whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. Now, physical sickness is a great
trial. Do you believe the Lord heals?
Of course I do. Of course I do. If you're healed, He healed you.
I believe in healing. Somebody says, well, y'all don't
believe in healing. Yes, I do. Yes, we all do. If somebody's
healed, it's because the Lord healed them. Now, we pray for
them. The Lord uses means. The Lord uses instrumentality.
He uses medicine. But it's the Lord who does the
healing. And we pray for them. And the Lord was compassionate
toward that. But to a believer, sin Is very much like a sickness. And I do not mean like sin is
not your fault, like when you get sick and it's not your fault,
I don't mean that, but I mean, it's a loathsome disease in your
body. David said, my loins are filled
with a loathsome disease and there's no soundness in my flesh. You think of how pitiful you
are toward your children when they're sick. The Lord looks
at His people in their sickness, and He's moved with compassion. And here's the glorious part.
Luke 9, verse 11 says, He healed them that had need of healing. If you're somebody that has need
of healing. I fit that description. I'm one of those people. He healed
them that had need of healing and I need healing for my sin
sick soul. I need the great physician to
heal me. You've said I'm sick. I'm sick.
You're talking about you're sick. He healed them. Moved with compassion
by that. He's touched by the feeling of
our infirmities, weakness and sickness. And he healed them
that had need of healing. Matthew chapter 15 verse 32. Then Jesus called His disciples
unto Him and said, I have compassion. And that was a meaningless word
with our Lord. His bowels yearned. I have compassion on the multitude because they
continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And
I'll not send them away fasting lest they faint in the way. You know, the first thing that
came to my mind when I thought about that is coming into a worship
service wanting to hear from the Lord. You want to hear a
word from Him. You don't want to hear from a
man. You want to hear from the living God. You want Him to touch
your soul. You know, He won't turn it away. You come with an
empty cup, He'll fill it. He promises He'll do that. Hunger
and thirst. He's moved with compassion by
hunger and thirst. Now, yes, physical. Yes, physical,
he's moved to help somebody who's hungry. He's, he's glorious. But I think that this means more
than anything else. I mean, the spiritual application,
blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Now,
when you hunger and thirst after righteousness, it's because you
feel in your soul an absence of this and a great need for
it. You know what the Lord says?
You're filled. Everybody who has a hunger and
a thirst for righteousness, who feels that they have none in
themselves and they hunger and they thirst for it. He satisfies
that hunger always. He's moved with compassion by
anyone who hungers. Turn to Matthew 20. Verse 30, And behold, two blind
men. When you're blind, you can't
see. You cannot see. That's what blind
means. You can't see. Henry Mahan once preached on
blind Martimeas and said, let me tell you three things about
him. He was blind. Second, he couldn't see. Third,
he was plumb-blind. Here's this man. And behold,
two blind men sitting by the wayside, when they heard that
Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou
Son of David. And the multitude rebuked them,
because they should hold their peace. But they cried the more,
saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And Jesus
stood still and called them and said, What will ye that I should
do unto you? And they said unto him, Lord,
that our eyes may be opened. So Jesus had compassion on them
and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received
sight and they followed him. You know, the Lord has a special
compassion toward the blind. He said, for judgment am I come
into this world that they which see not might see. And that they
would see might be made blind. Now you show me a person. I hope
there's somebody, I hope this is me. I hope I'm describing
myself. But you show me a person who cannot see why God would
ever save them. They can't see why God would
ever love them in and of themselves. All their objections to sovereign
grace have ceased. They don't see one single reason
why God would look in favor toward them. And whenever the Lord sees
that, He's moved with compassion. And He reaches forth and touches
that blind person's eyes and shows them why He can have favor
on them for Christ's sake. Mark 1. Verse 40, And there came a leper to him.
Luke's account tells us he was full of leprosy. He didn't have
an inch of healthy flesh. Everywhere you looked, there
were the boils and the sores of leprosy. What a pathetic,
pitiful case. But look how he came. And there
came a leper to him, beseeching him and kneeling down to him
and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Now, three things this leper
was dead sure of. He was unclean. He knew it. He was unclean before God. And he knew he couldn't make
himself clean. He was dead sure of that. And
he was dead sure that Christ could make him clean. If you
will, you can make me clean. One thing he wasn't sure about
was his willingness. Now, he didn't know the Lord
very well, did he? Because look at the way the Lord responded
to him. Verse 41, And Jesus moved with compassion. Now, picture this in your mind,
this lecherous man. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. And the Lord didn't just say,
I will be clean. He was moved with compassion. Anytime somebody who's full of
leprosy, the leprosy of sin comes to him just like this with the
same attitude, Lord. Matthew's account tells us he
worshipped him. That's so important. He worshipped him. He worshipped
him before he cleansed him. You see, it's always important
for us to remember the Lord Jesus Christ is worthy of worship,
whatever he does with us. He's worthy of worship. He worshiped
him for who he was. And he said, Lord, if you will,
you could make me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion,
said, I will be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken,
immediately the leprosy departed from him. And he was clean. Where did it go? Well, the scripture
says he bore our diseases, our sins, our sorrows. Every time
that happened, he bore it. But he was moved with compassion. He still is. He still is. Turn to Mark chapter five. This
is my personal favorite. Read several verses of Scripture
here. And they came over onto the other side of the sea and
into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the
ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs, out of the
place of death, a man with an unclean spirit. A morally perverse
spirit who had his dwelling among the tombs, and no man could bind
him, no, not with chains, because he had been often bound with
fetters and chains, chains of religion. And the chains had
been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces,
neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he
was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself
with stones, hurting himself. But when he saw Jesus afar off,
he ran and worshipped Him and cried with a loud voice and said,
What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High
God? What connection is there between
us? You're holy. I'm evil. You're light. I'm darkness. You're good. I'm
bad. There's no connection. I adjure thee by God that thou
torment me not. For he saith unto him, Come out
of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy
name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion. For we are
many legions of devils and demons and sin and uncleanness. And
he besought him much that he would not send him away out of
the country. Now there was nigh unto the mountain a great herd
of swine feeding, and all the devils besought him, saying,
Send us into the swine that we may enter into them. And forthwith
Jesus gave them leave. The devils couldn't make a move
without his permission. And the unclean spirits went
out and entered into the swine, and the herd ran violently down
a steep place into the sea. They that were about 2,000 were
choked in the sea, and they that fed the swine fled and told it
in the city and the country, and they went out to see what
it was that was done. And they came to Jesus and see
him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion sitting. and clothed and in his right mind sitting at the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ clothed in his righteousness and in his right mind you're
a lost man crazy someone who looks anywhere other than Christ
is crazy but he's now in his right mind They were afraid of
this. They like it when they can keep
him tamed. But they were afraid of this. And David saw it, told
them how Bethel him that was possessed with the devil and
also concerning the swine. And they began to pray him to
depart out of their coasts. And when he was coming to the
ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that
he might be with him, albeit Jesus suffered him not. But he
said, go home to thy friends and tell them how great things
the Lord had done for thee. and hath had compassion on thee. Turn with me to Luke 7. And it came to pass, verse 11,
the day after he went into a city called Nain, and many of his
disciples went with him, and much people. And when he came
nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man
carried out, the only son of his mother. And she was a widow. Now, this woman was in a mess.
She was a widow. She didn't have a husband to
take care of her. And her son was dead and she'd lost all support. And the Lord was moved. He was moved at her grief, her
sorrow, her state. Verse 13, And when the Lord saw
her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier,
the coffin. And they that bear him stood
still, and he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. This is what his compassion does
for you. Not like my compassion. And he that was dead sat up and
began to speak, and he delivered him to his mother. Turn to Hebrews
chapter 5. Verse one. For every high priest
taken from among men. Is ordained for men in things
pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and sacrifice
for sins. Now, this high priest, our high
priest is described in verses 14 through 16 of Chapter four,
seeing them that we have a great high priest that is passed into
the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession,
for we have not a high priest. which cannot be touched, moved
to sympathy with the feeling. You're singing that song, feelings
come, feelings go, and then what's that? When all my heart feels
condemned for one of some sweet token that you're greater than
my heart. There it is. With the feeling
of our infirmities, but was at all points tempted like as we
are yet without sin, let us therefore come boldly into the throne of
grace. that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. For every priest taken
from among men is ordained for men and things pertaining to
God that he might have offer both gifts and sacrifices for
sins. And look at this. Here's the priest I need. Who
can have compassion. On the ignorant. And on them
that are out of the way, they've strayed off. What a high priest that the ignorant,
he doesn't get mad at. He has compassion and that one
who is straight off. He has compassion. Now, turn back to Matthew, chapter
18. What a gospel application this
is. I know these are a lot of scriptures to read, but I think
they need to be read. Verse 23. Therefore, as the kingdom of
heaven likened to a certain king, which would take account of his
servants, and when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto
him which owed ten thousand talents. Now that's millions and millions
of dollars. Now, if I owed millions and millions
of dollars, let's say 100 million dollars. If I came up and said,
have patience with me, I'll pay all. Could I do it? No. No. And this fellow really was
wrong in the way he approached this. Verse. Twenty five, but for as much
as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold. and
his wife and children and all that he had in payment to be
made, the servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying,
Lord, have patience with me. I'll pay thee all. Then the Lord
of that servant was moved with compassion. And he loosed him. And he forgave
him the debt. Now, that's the way grace works.
He's moved with compassion. He sets me free. And he forgives
the debt. But the same servant went out
and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him a hundred pence,
and he laid hands on him and he took him by the throat, saying,
Pay me that thou owest. That was only fifteen dollars.
And his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him,
saying, Have patience with me. I'll pay thee all. And he would
not, but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the
debt. So when his fellow servants saw
what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told them
to their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord, after that he
called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee
all that debt, because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou also have
had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on
thee? And his Lord was wroth, and delivered
him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto
him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if you
from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespass." Our Lord is compassionate. That's so clear from these scriptures
I've read. In Colossians chapter three,
verse 12, it says, put on, therefore, as the elect of God. And what's
the first thing he says? First thing, vows of mercies. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind. Peter said, finally be ye all
of one mind, having compassion of one another, love as brethren. Be pitiful, be courteous. John said in 1 John 3, 17, Whoso
hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth
up his bowels of compassion, how dwelleth the love of God
in him. One final scripture, turn to Luke 10. Verse 25. And behold, a certain lawyer
stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life? And he said unto him, What's
written in the law? Thou readest thou? And he answered and said,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with
all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind,
and thy neighbor as thyself. I kind of get the feeling he
kind of had his chest pumped out when he said that. I gave the
right answer. He felt really good about himself. And I love the way the Lord met
him. And he said unto him, thou hast
answered right, this do, and thou shalt live. He met him on
the ground, he came, this do, and thou shalt live. But he willing
to justify himself. I understand that. He said unto
Jesus, and who's my neighbor? And Jesus answering said, A certain
man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves,
which stripped him of his raiment, wounded him, and departed, leaving
him half dead. And by chance there came down
a certain priest that way below. And when he saw him, he passed
on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he
was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the
other side. He looked, but he didn't do anything. But a certain Samaritan,
as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he
had compassion on him, and went to him and bound up his wounds,
pouring in oil and wine and set him on his own beast and brought
him to an end and took care of him. And on the morrow when he
departed, he took out two pence and gave them to the host and
said unto him, take care of him and whatsoever thou spendest
more, when I come again, I'll repay thee. Now, you can see
this is the Lord first. He is the good Samaritan. You
see that he he's the one who came to us where we were and
and bound us up and and set us on the beast and whatever we
need is going to be taken care of. But look what it says in
verse 6, 36, which now these three thinkers that was neighbor
unto him that fell among the thieves. And he said, he that
showed mercy on him, then said Jesus unto him, go and do thou
likewise. May you and I go and do likewise. Let's pray.