as we think about Christ.
We think about who He was, what He did, how He lived while He was on this earth.
As we consider the lessons that we should take from His life, one of the lessons that we should learn from Christ is that He was and is a compassionate Savior.
As you look through scripture, you find an emphasis in the Old Testament about the compassion of God.
You find going even into the very text of the Ten Commandments, God emphasizing His compassionate nature and yet His demand for obedience.
And when you see Christ come on the scene and you see His life lived out in event after event after event as recorded in the Gospels, you find the picture of Christ as He shares
the character of God in its fullness.
And you see His compassion.
This morning we're going to spend some time with some passages that speak concerning
the compassion of Christ and see if perhaps as we look at these things we see not only a pattern of how to live, but an emphasis on what truly matters.
We're going to begin in Luke chapter five.
Luke chapter five.
We notice here in the life of Christ that Jesus had compassion on those who were separated.
Luke chapter 5, beginning of verse 12, and it happened when he was in a certain city.
That, behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus.
Now, in order to really comprehend what is going on in the life of this man and the reaction of Jesus, you need to know something about the laws for leprosy.
Back in the Old Testament, there were laws and ordinances given under the law of Moses that when an individual had a growth, had something on their skin that
Perhaps could have been leprosy.
It wasn't as though they could, you know, put them under an MRI or do a CT scan or do any sort of uh chemical analysis, biological analysis that we would do in a medical office
today.
No, they had to wait and observe.
And so when they would observe that particular spot on the skin, it continued to grow, if it didn't disappear over a period of time,
they would at the beginning of the time where they notice it go show themselves to the priest.
The priest would evaluate them if it continued, if it persisted, if it grew, if it spread, and did not begin to decrease after a period of time, they were pronounced as those who
had leprosy.
And the reality of that pronouncement was that they were separated from everyone.
They had to go live outside the camp.
They could no longer interact with people on a day-to-day basis within their city, within their family, within their nation.
As people would draw near, if this issue persisted, if they were seen to continue to have this ongoing ailment, they would have to cry out.
They would cover themselves and cover their mouths so they didn't even speak on to someone so as to infect them, and they would cry out that they had leprosy.
They lived a life of solitude, of separation from everyone around them.
So this individual who has leprosy beholds Jesus.
He sees Jesus and he fell on his face and implored him saying, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.
This man comes to Jesus and he has a disease that no one can cure.
He has a disease that no one can help.
He has a situation where he is caused by this disease to be entirely separated and siloed away from everyone in his life.
And he comes to Jesus and he falls before him and he implores him.
Have mercy.
on me.
You can make me clean.
Then he put out his hand and touched him, saying, I am willing be cleansed.
Immediately the leprosy left him, and he charged him to tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing as a testimony to them,
just as Moses commanded.
Jesus knew the law, knew the ordinances concerning leprosy, that if an individual's leprosy went away, they didn't just go back into the city.
They didn't just go back into town.
They didn't just resume their normal life prior.
They rather had to go to a priest.
They had to show themselves to the priest.
They had to be pronounced clean as they had been pronounced as having leprosy.
And they had an offering to make.
So Jesus tells this individual, go do what the law said.
We read verse 15, however the report went.
around concerning him all the more concerning Christ.
And great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities.
Jesus as a result of this, we learn in verse 16, will continually have to withdraw himself from the crowds, from the multitudes that would follow him wherever he went so that he
could have time alone with the disciples and time to pray.
But I want you to notice here that Jesus had compassion on the separated.
There are many things in life that separate us over time.
You know, eventually, children ought to grow up and separate from their parents.
Eventually, people should recognize that we'll be separated by death.
There are things in life that separate us, but there are things in life that if we would just resolve them, we would no longer be separated.
the greatest separation that any person has ever experienced is a separation from God.
In Isaiah chapter 59 verses 1 and 2, Isaiah tells us that it is sin which separates us from God.
As we examine our lives, we should realize that not only did Jesus have compassion on those who are separated, but Jesus came and His mission was to reconcile those who are
separated from God by sin.
But then consider as well Luke chapter 7.
Luke chapter 7, beginning in verse 11, we notice that Jesus had compassion for those who were alone and for widows.
In Luke chapter 7, beginning in verse 11, now it happened the day after that He went into a city called Nain, and many of His disciples went with Him and a large crowd.
And when he came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother.
And she was a widow.
And a large crowd from the city was with her." Notice the situation of this individual, this woman, was that she had lost her only son, uh an experience that surely would have
been
traumatic, surely would have brought grief and great sorrow, as exhibited by the funeral procession that is going on as Jesus enters the city.
And yet, we're told in the text that not only had she lost her only son,
but that prior to that she had already lost her husband.
that now her standing, we know from tradition as well as from history, that her standing under the law is basically, she is destitute.
She's much like Naomi was in the book of Ruth in that she lost not just her husband, but all of her children.
Jesus sees this as it is going on as He enters the city.
And when he saw her, verse 13, he had compassion on her and said to her, Do not weep.
Jesus sees the experience and sees the situation.
He knows her situation, just like He knew her heart.
and he tells her, not weep.
Then he came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him, that is the young man, stood still, and he said, young man, I say to you, arise.
So he who was dead sat up and began to speak, and he presented him to his mother.
Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, a great prophet has risen up among us, and God has visited his people, and this report
about him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region.
Jesus had compassion on this woman and He raised her son back to life.
Jesus had compassion on those who were alone.
And scripture teaches us over and over and over again in all of God's laws from the beginning of the scriptures to the end that we are to care for widows.
That we are to provide for those who cannot provide for themselves.
That we are to make sure that their needs are provided for.
Jesus does that in this scenario by giving her back her son.
But we might also realize that Jesus...
caused this young man to be raised from the dead.
He solved the temporary issue of this widow being alone and without any help or support in this life.
when we examine the mission of Christ.
that he came to give life to those who were dead.
not those who were physically dead.
Jesus didn't go about from city to city visiting the cemetery and raising everyone who was in the cemetery back to life.
Jesus didn't come to give physical life, rather He came to give life and to give it more abundantly.
He came to give eternal life.
Jesus came that those who will die physically might never die again.
because they have in them the life of Christ.
But then consider as well Matthew chapter 14.
In Matthew chapter 14,
Jesus is one who was moved.
by the abundant suffering of others.
Matthew chapter 14 beginning in verse 13, when Jesus heard it, departed from there by boat to a deserted place by himself.
But when the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities.
And when Jesus went out, he saw a great multitude and he was moved with compassion for them and healed their sick.
Jesus sees the people.
As he gets off of the boat where he has hit the shore, he sees the crowds and they're coming and they're thronging around Jesus and they desire to be with Jesus and they're
bringing out those who are sick and those who are ill and those who are lame and those who had uh evil spirits and they're bringing them to Jesus so that they can be healed.
And Jesus could have easily stepped back in the boat and said, let's go.
But he didn't.
He saw the abundance of their need.
and he didn't close off his heart to it.
He didn't close off his compassion for these crowds and for these individuals.
but rather He taught them and He healed them.
It is a challenge for people who deal in the public space, who are constantly surrounded by people who want to be around them.
It is a challenge to see people as individuals, to see a person's problem and not just a crowd's situation, to pay attention
to the individual and their needs and not just think about groups collectively.
Jesus was one who in the midst of being constantly surrounded by the crowds would tell the disciples to allow the little children to come to it.
He didn't see them as a nuisance.
He saw them as they were.
He saw them as individuals.
He saw their needs.
He saw what it was that they were coming for.
We need to learn as we examine our lives and as we measure our lives against the life of Christ that we should see people as they are.
and our hearts should be moved by the abundant suffering that some people have.
Jesus, as He teaches these individuals, will observe that they don't have the food they need.
and his heart and his compassion will flow out to them and he will provide what they need, but then consider Mark chapter 8.
March after eight as we find another telling of this event.
Mark will describe the 4,000 as they come to Jesus, as they're thronging to hear and see Jesus, as they will go with Jesus over an extended period of time.
Notice chapter eight, verse one, in those days the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said to them, I have compassion on
the multitude because they have now continued with me.
three days and have nothing to eat.
notice that this crowd hadn't spent the morning or the afternoon with Jesus.
They hadn't spent a little bit of spending time with Jesus.
They hadn't come for a uh seminar where they stayed for an hour and listened to a 45-minute presentation.
This crowd had been with Jesus day in and day out for three straight days.
And while they may have had the provisions for day one.
And while some of them may have been really thinking ahead and brought provisions and they had provisions for day two.
Now day three has arrived.
and everybody who had anything's
He says, have compassion on the multitude because they have now continued with me three days and have nothing to eat.
And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way, for some of them have come from afar.
Then his disciples answered him, how can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?
He asked them, how many loaves do you have?
And they said, seven.
So he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground and he took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before them.
And they set them before the multitude.
They also had a few small fish and having blessed them, he said to set them also before them.
So they ate and were filled and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments.
Now those who had eaten were about four thousand and he sent them away.
Jesus had compassion on those because they were searching for spiritual provisions, yet in the midst of searching for spiritual provisions, they lacked physical one.
Jesus as He came to this world in His mission to save humanity from sin.
would tell the people, I am the bread of life.
He would say to His disciples, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
He would pronounce a blessing upon those in Matthew chapter five who hungered and thirsted for righteousness.
He says, and they shall be filled.
And yet, while His mission was to provide the spiritual nourishment that we all need.
He did not neglect the physical needs of individuals as well.
He had compassion on those who lacked what they needed physically because they had been focused on what they so desperately needed spiritually.
we are to learn that in our lives there will be those who will come to us and they are hungering and thirsting for righteousness.
And we ought to be ready and prepared to fill them right up to the top.
Sometimes they're also going to need the things of this world.
You read over in Acts chapter 2 of the early church.
The day of Pentecost concludes.
and the number that was added to the apostles that day was about three thousand souls, Acts chapter 2 verse 41.
You read verse 42, continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers.
What are they doing day in and day out?
They're being filled with spiritual things.
They're continuing in the teaching of the apostles every single day.
But then we read, then fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.
Now all who believed were together and had all things in common and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need.
In the midst of their longing for and yearning for and interest in spiritual matters, their desire for the spiritual fulfillment
their desire for the being filled spiritually caused them to have physical needs.
Because many of these people who were now dwelling in Jerusalem and who were Christians, who were part of the first century church, had come from lands and places far away.
And they came kind of like those crowds that had stayed with Jesus for three days.
They came with adequate provisions for a normal trip.
except that normal trip had just changed into something very much not normal.
So instead of going home after Pentecost as they normally would have, instead of returning to their own home country and their own homeland, they stayed because now they were
Christians.
And the only Christians they knew of were right there in that city.
And they weren't willing to leave.
And so the Christians that were from there, those who were part of the body of Christ who lived there said, don't worry, we've got you.
If it means we have to sell what we have, we'll sell it.
You all stay here and learn and be fed spiritually.
They lived out in the early church the compassion of their Lord.
But then, March, chapter nine.
Mark chapter 9.
Jesus has just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration.
He had gone up on the mount with three of his apostles.
The others had remained below the base of the mountain.
And we read beginning in verse 14, And when he came to the disciples, he saw a great multitude around them and scribes disputing with them.
Immediately when they saw him, all the people were greatly amazed and running to him, greeted him.
And he asked the scribes, What are you discussing with them?
Then one of the crowd answered and said, Teacher, I brought you my son, who was a mute spirit.
who has a mute spirit.
And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down.
He foams at the mouth and gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid.
So I spoke to your disciples, and they should cast it out, but they could not." He answered him and said, "'O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?
How long shall I bear with you?
Bring him to me.'"
Then they brought him to him, and when he saw him, immediately the Spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.
And he asked his father, How long has this been happening to him?
And he said, From childhood.
And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him.
But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us."
The Father comes with His Son to Jesus because they have done everything they could do.
and he pleads.
He pleads with Jesus.
compassion and help us.
Jesus will reply, if you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord I believe, help my unbelief.
The Father desires for Jesus to restore His Son to a normal state.
And he's unwilling that he is the barrier of that happening.
When Jesus saw the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, Death and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more.
Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him.
And he became as one dead, so that many said, He is dead.
But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
And when he had come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could we not cast it out?
So he said to them, This kind can come out by nothing.
but prayer and fasting.
Jesus here has compassion on those one who humbly sought help.
Jesus was not unmoved by the physical circumstances of the people in this world.
He was not unmoved by the hardships that they faced, the struggles that they dealt with.
And yet...
we're quite clearly told that this wasn't Jesus' mission in life.
Helping those who suffered with evil spirits.
he had authority over them, but that's not why he came.
Helping those who had physical maladies.
he had the ability to heal them, but that's not why he came.
Jesus came so that those who would believe in the message of the gospel could humbly ask God for help, for salvation, and receive that salvation by the obedience to God's command.
then consider as well.
Mark chapter six.
that Jesus had compassion on those who were hungering for the Word of God.
Mark chapter 6 verse 30, then the apostles gathered together or gathered to Jesus and told him all things, both that they had done and what they had taught.
And he said to them, Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest awhile.
For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.
So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves, but the multitude saw them departing, and many knew him and ran there on foot from all the cities.
They arrived before them and came together to him.
And Jesus, when he came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd.
So he began to teach them many things.
Jesus had compassion on these individuals.
He had compassion because he saw their real state.
He saw a multitude of people from Galilee, from the regions around Galilee, from the places of which some in Israel would say, can any good thing come from there?
the region from which as Jesus was on trial and Peter was standing there next to the house of the high priest as he stood around the fire, even his accent as coming from Galilee
gave him away.
They said, you must be one of his disciples.
Jesus saw the crowds and He didn't see a crowd that had available to them the greatest teachers of the Old Testament law.
He saw people who were hungering for the Word of God.
and he taught.
we consider our lives.
in view of a compassionate Savior.
May we realize that the greatest need...
that those around us have is not for food.
It's not for the solving of physical ailments.
It's not for the lack of physical provisions.
It's not for the hungering and thirsting after this world's needs and necessities.
But the greatest need that people have in the world around us is to know the Good Shepherd.
But may we also be reminded that God is not a God who only cares about salvation.
Rather, He is a God that cares for the whole of a person, for their needs, for their necessities, for their struggles, for their sorrow.
And that as we strive diligently to teach the lost
We're going to deal with the whole person and not just their spiritual state.
If you're here this morning
and you're separated and alone and destitute and hungered and thirsting for spiritual provisions.
You've come to the right place.
But if in the midst of your hungering for spiritual things, you find you also have physical needs that you cannot solve on your own, you still come to the right place.
If you have any need, make it known.
Why not come forward as we stand and as we sing?