Our Old Testament text this morning comes from Isaiah chapter 51 verses 1-12. This is Isaiah 51 verses 1-12. Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah who bore you. For He was but One when I called Him that I might bless Him and multiply Him. For the Lord comforts Zion, He comforts all her waste places, and makes her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving in the voice of song. Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation, for a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples. My righteousness draws near, and my salvation has gone out. My arms will judge the peoples, the coastlands, hope for me. And for My arm they wait. Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look at the earth beneath, for the heavens vanish like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner. But My salvation will be forever, and My righteousness will never be dismayed." Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Fear not the reproach of men, nor be dismayed at their revilings. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool. But my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation for all generations. Awake! Awake and put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces that pierced the dragon? Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? And the ransom of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be put upon their heads, and they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. I am he who comforts you. Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies and of the son of man who has been made like the grass? It is my privilege to be able to introduce our speaker this morning. Chuck Phillips has been a part of this congregation. His wife is still a member of this congregation. Chuck used to be a pastor here. He has been ministering amongst Muslims in London for a few years, for quite some years. And it is our privilege to be able to introduce him and bring him into the pulpit in order for him to preach God's word for you. So Chuck, if you will please come. Well, this kind of seems familiar up here. I think I've been here before. It is a delight and pleasure to be with you and to see so many of you who are old friends, but to make some new friends today. My wife sends her apologies. She's with our daughter and granddaughters in Atlanta. I don't know why she would choose to be with grandchildren rather than coming to Christ's press. That just doesn't make sense. But anyway, she is helping our daughter who's going through a difficult period of time. It's always a great joy to come back here. This is our home church and many of you are such dear friends to us. We have wonderful memories of being here. I was getting ready this morning and I got up my white shirt and I was going to put it on. You know, I don't wear a white dress shirt in London when I go to church, so I don't wear it very often, except when I come here. But I've noticed these last few Sundays since I've been here in the States, putting on my white dress shirt on Sunday mornings, that I'm having great difficulty getting it buttoned. You know, I don't know what the problem is. It's the worst case of spontaneous shirt shrinkage I've ever seen. I don't know. You don't think it's related to what I eat, do you? You know, the last few weeks I've been on the missions conference circuit and visiting churches and I just have to tell you that eating is absolutely brutal. I do need to discipline myself and my eating more. You know, we are missionaries in London, England and we're not missionaries primarily to Brits. We don't call them English people, we call them Brits. We are missionaries to Muslim immigrants. And I don't know if you know what has been going on in Europe. You may know that Muslim immigrants have been flooding into Europe. They've been doing it for years and years. It's intensified in the last few years. And the good news is that many of these have ended up in churches. You know, I was just talking to our MTW missionaries from Athens, Greece. They were saying in our Greek language churches, we're getting lots of Iranians, people who are Muslims coming. I was talking to a missionary from Berlin. They were saying the same thing. In our churches, in our German language churches, we're getting lots of Iranians coming. You know, I've seen it in other places. In London, where we are, many Iranians, many Muslim people are coming. We have a English language class for women immigrants, and probably 40% of them are Muslim women. And they come to our service. And let me tell you, the good news is that many of them are becoming Christians. Do you realize how rare that is? Do you realize God in today is doing something absolutely marvelous? You know, for years and years it looks like Muslim hearts were hard. They were unresponsive to the gospel. And yet God in his sovereignty is beginning to touch their hearts, to open their hearts to the gospel. So despite every problem, despite all the intellectual objections they have, Many are being brought into this kingdom. Let me tell you, it is a wonderful thing. And we are absolutely thrilled to be there. We've been there 12 and a half years. People ask, well, how much longer are you going to be there in light of your advanced age? Well, we're kind of conflicted. We're drawn to children and grandchildren on one hand here in the States, but our hearts are there. Our hearts are with the dear Iranian Christians that we have. We are parts of their lives who are part of our church. Our church is a very international church. We have people from 35 different nationalities in our church. I'm an elder in the church, and particularly my responsibility is the Iranians in the church. and we love them and long to be back there and to be with them and to share the gospel with them. This morning we're going to be looking at Matthew chapter 9 verses 35 through 38. You can turn there in your Bibles or in your devices or however you view the scripture. You know I'm a missionary. I should have a burden for the lost. I've left this country to live for 12 and a half years. I've left family. I've left friends. I've left children. I've left grandchildren to be in another country. Therefore, I should have a burden for the lost. I should have compassion for the lost. To be honest with you, that's not always the case. You know, I found it very easy for myself to be walking down the street and I'm rubbing shoulders with Muslims from many different countries, I'm rubbing shoulders with the lost from many different countries, and yet at times I find myself strangely unconcerned. You know, it's so easy to look at the lost, and we know intellectually, we know theologically, that they are without Christ, and they are without hope. We know there is, they are facing a Christless eternity. We know that they're hellbound, and yet very often, our hearts are strangely unmoved, untouched, unconnected, unmotivated to reach out to them. So this morning I want us to look at two things. The first thing I want us to see is what we should do toward the lost. What is our obligation to do to them, for them? But the second thing I want us to think about today is this, how do we get a heart to do that? You know, we're going to look at a very famous missionary passage this morning. You've all heard sermons from it, probably in missions, conferences, but I'm going to put a little different twist on it this morning. We're going to think not only about what we should do toward the lost, but we're also going to think about how do we get a heart to do it, how do we get a heart of compassion for the lost. Let's look again in God's Word. This is Matthew chapter 9, beginning in verse 35. This is God's Word. And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the labors are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labors into his harvest." Before we look at this passage of scripture, let's valgan in prayer. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that this is not just the words of men, or the word of man. This is the word of God that you inspired on the lips of your apostles, on the lips of your prophets. And now we have it today before us, and now we're considering it, and we pray that we might receive it as such, as the very word of God. And we cry to you today for the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We pray that he would illumine your word. We pray that he would give us understanding. We pray that he would cut on the light in our hearts. And we pray that he would give us a heart to obey your word. Change us and make us different by your word, we pray. We commit it to you. We thank you for what you will do. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I think we have a great mission sermon before us. The three points here I want to bring to you to begin with. You've heard them all before, but they're points that we need to remind ourselves about continually as we think about the lost around us. We're going to see these three points from verses 37 and verses 38. The harvest is plentiful. The labors to reach this harvest are few. And number three, God sends out labors as we pray. The very first thing I want us to think about, the harvest is plentiful. There is a harvest out there. There are those who are to be brought into God's stone house, into His church, into His kingdom, and it's a plentiful harvest. Jesus said the same thing in John 4.35. Do you not say, there are yet four months, then comes the harvest. Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see the fields are ripe for harvest. There is a harvest to be brought in. There are those who will believe at the preaching of God's Word. And this harvest is, I believe, is not just the lost in general. This is the lost that God has chosen for salvation. These are the ones who will believe at the preaching of the gospel. And Jesus is saying, this harvest is plentiful. There are many Listen to the words of John 10, 16, and I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. Brothers and sisters, success is sure. There is a people of God. There are a group of people from every kindred and tribe and tongue and nation that God has chosen who will believe the gospel. And let me tell you, as a missionary, that is a great encouragement for me. You know, as I walk the streets of London, as I rub elbows with Muslims from many different countries, what is my confidence? What is my confidence of success? It's this, that God has a harvest in London. There are people who are Muslims now, but they are elect Muslims. People upon whom, hearing God's Word, they will believe. And this group is plentiful. It is great. Listen to the words of Revelation chapter 7, verses 9. This is the picture of Revelation of that scene of worship in heaven that will one day be After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne. Brothers and sisters, there is a harvest. It's a great harvest. It is plentiful. But there's a problem. Notice our second point here. The laborers are few. And the first thing is this. God's way to bring in this harvest is laborers. It's labors who will go and who will preach. Listen to Romans 10, 14, and 15. How then will they call on Him in whom they have believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they've never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful of the feet of those who preach to hear the good news. There is a harvest. It will be brought in. as people hear the gospel, as they believe it. But it takes a laborer. It takes someone to go. It takes someone to preach. You know, God could have done it in a different way. God could have had angels declare the gospel throughout the world. Maybe that would have been a better way, an easier way. But no, that was not God's way. You see what he's done? He's ordained those who will be saved, but he's also ordained human instrumentality, that he will do it as people go and preach the gospel. For a person to believe savingly, they must hear the gospel preached. So there's a problem. There's not enough laborers. But it's interesting here that Jesus gives us the answer to that problem. And it's a surprising answer. You know, Jesus said there's a plentiful harvest, but there are just not enough laborers. So what do you think Jesus' answer to that problem would be? You know, you might think Jesus' answer to the problem of not enough laborers is Go and be a laborer. Go and preach the gospel. Is that what Jesus said here? No, it's not. And that brings us to our third point. God sends out laborers as we pray. Look at verse 38. Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. You know, God has so designed world evangelization, He so designed the building of His church, that it takes both labors who will preach and people who will pray. That is God's way. You know, we see Muslims streaming into Europe, And some people are alarmist and they say, by the year 2050, the countries of Europe, Western Europe will be Muslim majority countries. They say all of Europe will be a Muslim lake. And you think, what can I do about that? But I'm going to tell you, there's something that you can do that will have impact in every corner of the world. And you know what that is? That is to pray. How does God reach people? How does God make the people of the world into Christians? It is as people go and preach, but it is also as people pray. You know, isn't that a stunning concept? That you, right here in Mobile, Alabama, you can affect what happens around the world as you pray. You can have impact around the world as you pray, as you pray for the advance of the gospel, as you pray that God will send laborers into his harvest. You, right here, have an integral part in God's plan. Do you see human instrumentality? God does. He could have done it by angels. No, he sent those who would preach. But God also ordained that it will happen by our prayers. That's God's way. He's involved us in his great work. And you, right here in Mobile, Alabama, you can be vitally involved in the evangelization of the world. as you pray that labors would be sent, as you pray that God would make the gospel effective as they preach. One little warning here, if you pray that God would send labors into the harvest fields of the world, you might be sent. Or, your children might be sent. or your grandchildren might be sent. We've looked at three points this morning. The harvest is plentiful. The harvest is there. The elect are out there. They're from every kindred, tribe, and tongue, and nation. There's a problem. We need more labors. God's answer to that is for us to pray, and he sends them out. Is this a good missionary sermon? Three points. Important things. Wonderful things. Things we shouldn't forget. Things we should do. Okay, here's what we're supposed to do. Let's just get out there and let's do them. Let's pray. Let's go. Let's preach. Good sermon, isn't it? You know, there's something else we need to talk about. I'll be honest with you about myself. I need something more from God than just knowing what to do. The scripture tells us what we need to do, and I'm glad it does. I need God to touch me in my heart. I need God to give me a motivation. I need God to give me a passion to do it. A heart to do it. A desire to do it. For me, I don't know about for you, but for me it's not enough just to know what I should do. I need something more than that. I need a passion. I need a heart. I need a desire to do what God wants me to do. That's what we're going to talk about for the rest of the sermon. How do we get a heart for the lost? How do we get a heart to pray for a world of evangelization? How do we get a heart to go? The rest of the sermon we're going to look at verse 36, because there we believe, I believe we get the answer, how we get a heart for the lost. Let me read it again, verse 36. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. You know, Jesus is a great example of compassion for the lost. And notice there's a connection here between Jesus seeing and feeling compassion. In 9.36 again it says, When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them. We found this in other places in the gospel as well. This is Matthew 14.14. This is the feeling of the 5,000. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them. and he healed their sick. We found it again in Mark 6 34. This is again Jesus teaching and feeding the 5,000. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd and he began to teach them many things. We see this in Jesus' response to the widow of Nain. Remember, the widow and her only son had died, and Jesus encounters her in the funeral procession for her dead son. This is Luke 7.13, and when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, do not weep. Jesus saw he had compassion and he taught people. Jesus saw he had compassion and he healed them. Jesus saw he had compassion and he fed them. What was it that Jesus saw that elicited his compassion for these people? He uses the sheep metaphor right here. The people that Jesus saw right here, how does he describe them? He says they are like sheep, they are harassed. It means literally having torn skin. These sheep, these are sheep that have been cut up by rocks and brambles and predators. They've been cut up, beaten up, torn up. And not only were they harassed, it says also here Jesus saw them as helpless. That's literally they were thrown down, they were prone, they were knocked down, and they couldn't get up. They were so weak they could not get themselves up. They couldn't right themselves. And there's a third thing about them. Jesus says they were without a shepherd. There was no one to help them. Do you see the imagery right here? A metaphor, a sheep, to describe their spiritual condition. When Jesus saw them, it was more than just looking at their external circumstances. It was Jesus looking deep into their hearts and looking at their spiritual condition. And how did he see these people spiritually? They were harassed, they were cut up, beaten up, they were torn up. by sin and guilt and even by religion. Spiritually, they were helpless. They had no power to do anything about their spiritual condition. They owed a sin debt that they could never pay. They were blind to their sin. They were blind to a Savior. They were blind to the grace of God. And spiritually, they were like sheep without a shepherd. Didn't these people, the Jews of Jesus' day, didn't they have religious leaders? Didn't they have shepherds for their souls? Well, yes, they did. But they were the scribes and Pharisees. These were not people who would tell them about the grace of God and the mercy of God that comes from the God of the Bible. These were people who just wanted to lay them down with no religious rules and requirements. And what was Jesus' response as he looked at these people, as he looked deep into their hearts, as he saw their spiritual condition? It says here in verse 36 that he had compassion. And I love the word that's used for compassion here. And the image in this word, it's not compassion that is in one's heart, It's compassion that is in one's stomach, in their intestines, in their viscera. Have you ever heard anyone say, I have a gut feeling? What is the idea in this word? This is not a superficial compassion. This is something that is deeply felt. In other words, Jesus saw their spiritual condition and he felt deeply for their pain. He felt it down deep. He felt it intensely. He felt it in his viscera. The English Standard Version says he had compassion. The Amplified said he was moved with pity and with sympathy. You know, I like to paraphrase. It says, his heart broke. He saw their condition spiritually beaten up, helpless. They couldn't do anything about it. and there was no one to help them and to do the truth. And Jesus' heart broke as he looked at these people and he realized their spiritual condition. Let me tell you, this I believe is a picture of Jesus' compassion, not only for the people in his day, but for us today as his people. Let me tell you this one thing that we underestimate that is the compassion and the love of the heart of Jesus. And I realize as a Christian for myself I underestimate his compassion and his love for me. Let me tell you, if you know the Lord Jesus Christ, when He looks at you, when He looks in your heart, when He sees what you suffer, when He sees your difficulty, I want to tell you, He has a heart of compassion for you. His heart breaks for you in your suffering, in your problems, in your difficulties. I want to ask you this morning, is your heart like Jesus' heart? Is this a picture of your heart and your compassion to the lost? Is this your response to the lost when you think about them, when you see them? How do we get that kind of heart? Where does this kind of heart come from? I'm going to give you the whole application for this sermon, and we'll give it to you in a nutshell. Here it is. We get compassion for the lost, not so much by focusing on the lost and on their plight, but rather by focusing on Jesus and His heart of compassion for us in our lostness. You know, there are two things, I believe, that need to come together in our lives for us to have compassion for the lost. The first thing is this. We need to realize that spiritually, we were just like these people. Jesus looked into their hearts and saw their spiritual condition. Have you ever seen yourself in that way? Have you realized that at one time, pre-conversion, before you were a Christian, this was you? This is where you were. At one time, you were apart from Christ. Pre-conversion, you were harassed. You were cut up, beat up and torn by sin and guilt and religion. You were helpless. You had no power to do anything about it. You were spiritually blind. You were blind to your sin. You were blind to the Savior. You were blind to the grace of God. This was you. Do you realize that? It's not a bad thing to think back where you were pre-conversion. And I want to tell you, this was you and this was me pre-conversion. So we need to see ourselves pre-conversion in these terms. But there's something else we need to see. Have you ever realized, if you're a Christian, have you ever realized that Jesus looked at you in your lostness in the same way that he looked at these people? Let me tell you, Jesus looked at you in your lostness, in your blindness, in your helplessness, and it broke his heart." Now you say, when did Jesus look at me in this way? When did he look at me like this? I'm going to tell you when he did. Before the foundation of the world, before any of us ever existed, Jesus looked at you in this way. In eternity past, before the creation of the world, In the Council of Redemption, with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Father gave to His Son a people that would be His bride, His church. And Jesus looked down the corridors of time at this people, the people yet unformed, the people yet uncreated, and he saw them. He saw you and me. He saw us personally, and he saw us in our sin. He saw us in our alienation from God. He saw us in our guilt, in our condemnation, justly deserving the wrath of God. He saw us eternally lost. He saw us hellbound. And his heart was moved with compassion because of our lostness. And I think the worst thing of all as Jesus looked upon us in our lostness was our helplessness. He knew that there was absolutely nothing that we could do about our lost condition. And what was Jesus' response? His heart was filled with compassion, and as he looked upon us, as he looked upon our helplessness, his heart was broken. And what did he say? He said, I will go. I will suffer. I will die. I will save. Ephesians 5.25, Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. Have you ever realized that Jesus looked at you in that way and as he saw you in your lostness his heart was broken and he came for you. If we don't have compassion for the lost, is it because we've never felt the compassion of Jesus for us in our lostness? Or to put it another way, how does the lostness of people break our hearts? It breaks our hearts when we see the heart of Jesus broken for us in our lostness. Do you realize that? That the heart of Jesus was broken for you in your lostness. And let me tell you, if you focus on Jesus, His compassion for you in your lostness, what's the byproduct? Our heart begins to be broken for others in their lostness. Our heart begins to be broken for the world. I tell you, these two things come together in our hearts. Our sheer and utter lostness and helplessness apart from Christ and the heart of compassion of Jesus for us and our lostness. You put those two things together, we will see the harvest and our hearts will be moved. We will pray for laborers and we will go as God calls. Brothers and sisters, let's pray that God would work these things in our hearts. Let me just make one last application here. You know, if Jesus had compassion for us when we were lost, when we were in our sin, when we were rebels, when we were enemies against him, do you think in his heart of compassion is any less for you today. I just want to hit that one point again. Brothers and sisters, we vastly underestimate the love of Jesus' heart, the compassion of Jesus' heart. Brothers and sisters, if He loved us when we were sinners. If He was willing to die for us when we were sinners, what of His heart of love for us now? You know, I don't know what you're going through. I'm sure that for some of you what you're facing now is not easy, but I want to assure you of a Savior whose heart is filled with compassion for you and love for you, and as he looks upon you and senses what you're going through, I want to tell you, his heart is broken for you. And let me tell you, the more we focus on that kind of Savior, the more we'll find compassion in our hearts for others. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. We are absolutely stunned by his love. Love not for good people, love not for righteous people, not for people who loved him, but for love for sinners like ourselves. And we thank you that he came for us in our weakness, in our sin, and in our rebellion. And we thank you that he died. And we thank you for the work of the Holy Spirit, giving us new hearts. Hearts to repent and believe, and hearts to trust in the gospel, and hearts to follow you. Father, we pray that you would work these things in our hearts that we've talked about. Show us the Lord Jesus Christ more and more. Show us his love for us personally. and then fill our heart with love for others and love for the lost. We pray that this would be more than just theology, more than just information. We pray that this would be the real, true experience in our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit. And we thank you for what you will do and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.