Most likely, I can't promise, but most likely it looks like this will be a shorter message. So just warning those cooking stuff. Move with compassion. All through this passage, we see a savior, a Lord, who is compassionate. Whether he's raising someone up, physical suffering, healing physical suffering, compassion and compassion while they're faint because they faint or they're weak, we see the compassion of our Lord. Matthew 9, 18 through 38. Says, well, he spake these things unto them. Behold, there came a certain ruler and worshiped him saying, my daughter is even now dead, but come and lay thy hand upon her and she shall live. And Jesus arose and followed him. And so did his disciples. And behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood, 12 years came behind him and touched the hem of his garment. For she said within herself, if I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour. And when Jesus came into the ruler's house and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, he said unto them, Give place, for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when the people were put forth, he went in and took her by the hand, and the maid arose, and the fame hereof went abroad into all the land. And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, according to your faith, be it unto you. And their eyes were opened, and Jesus straightly charged them, saying, see that no man know it. But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country. As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with the devil. When the devil was cast out, the dumb spake, and the multitudes marveled, saying, it was never so seen in Israel. But when the Pharisees said, he casteth out devils through the prince of the devils, And Jesus, but the Pharisees said, he cast out devils through the prince of devils. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion. And that will be the focus, is moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray there for the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. So the focus of this sermon, this message is verse 36, Jesus being moved with compassion. And again, all through the passage I just read, we see, we read about the compassion of the Lord, specifically his compassion about the physical suffering from healing to having compassion because they were fainted or weak or whatever it might be. This example of the compassion of Jesus and the focus of this sermon stand as a barrier, stand as a barrier on the other side of the road from another truth. A lack of compassion is the risk that modern Christianity faces as there is a pushback by the church against the current social environment in the world, and I would say, as far as it still is godly, a right pushback. Men are called to be defenders, fighters, and to make the tough decisions that often need to be made. Men are to stand strong without compromise and not to allow their emotions to rule over them. There is actually a good argument that can be made that things like compassion, love, and even empathy can be misplaced and even toxic or sinful. But let's not get so excited about the modern movement in Christian culture, so excited to be seen as tough and masculine that we go beyond scripture and get into the other ditch. It isn't compassion in general that is the problem. It isn't love that is the problem, and it isn't empathy that's the problem. It's when these things are misplaced. Strong men have strong emotions, but strong men also keep their spirit in subjection and aligned with the word of God. I would argue that the weak man is the one who cannot show compassion because he isn't strong enough to keep it aligned with holiness. the one who doesn't care because he's not strong enough to care and do what's right. He's afraid that if he cares, he won't do what's right. He's afraid that if he has compassion, he won't do what's right. He's afraid that if he loves, he won't do what's right. He's afraid that if he has empathy, he won't do what's right. He's weak. All of these guys that are saying all of those things are wrong, maybe it's because they're the weak ones. Maybe it's because they're so insecure about their own masculinity that they've got to push this narrative. Maybe they're not strong enough to care and maintain their holiness and maintain their objectivity. I find three places in the book of Matthew where the phrase move with compassion is found. Here, chapter 14, verse 14, where Jesus was moved with compassion toward the multitude, and in chapter 18 in the parable of the unmerciful servant. Jesus said to have compassion in a few other places in Matthew as well. Here though, he is moved with compassion. His compassion is what moves him. He isn't out of control, but he is moved by his emotion. Vines says this of the Greek word for compassion. It's a funny little word, funny big word. Splanschnizomai. What a word. You feeling some splanschnizomai, brother? OK, so back to Vines. OK, compassion, compassionate. To be moved as to one's inwards, or splanchna, to be moved with compassion, to yearn with compassion, is frequently recorded of Christ towards the multitude and towards individual sufferers. And he lists a whole bunch of scriptures. He says, of the appeal of a father for a demon-possessed son, Luke 7.13 and 10.33, of the father in the parable of the prodigal son, Luke 15.20, It has to do with emotions. And we are to be conformed to this image. This image that we find in this passage, moved with compassion. That's the image we're to be conformed to. Not some image in our mind of what is the toughest, but what truly is the toughest. Those who can have compassion and still do what's right. And they're not afraid of it. Jesus is a law abider from the heart. The greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. This love is a human love that includes sanctified emotions. Jesus was moved with compassion. However, notice that there was reason and thought behind his compassion. It says, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. This was a time to listen to his righteous human sanctified emotion and to be moved with compassion. His compassion was not unguided and irrational. Irrational, unguided compassion is what we would object to. They fainted, which means they were tired. Having compassion on people because they're physically tired is godly. This isn't the type of compassion that excuses sin and evil. Excusing sin and evil. You know, while it's true that we don't know what other people have been through, and maybe even what they've been through that led them into sin, But this doesn't change their accountability. Too many times in our society, I hear people make statements to the effect of, they shot up the place because they had a bad home life, implying that we should dispense the carrying out of justice. That dispensing the carrying out of justice is compassion. Maybe it is, but it's misplaced compassion. It's not right. You know, it's just so odd how we see so many times someone who does a great evil and many of the news sources, the first thing they want to do is start coming to the compassion of the perpetrator. You have to have compassion on that perpetrator. You don't know how hard his home life was. You don't know how... and completely ignore the shot up people in the hospital. That's misplaced. That's not what this is talking about. We get it. You know what? There's lots of people who had bad situations growing up and they don't shoot up the place, okay? Jesus sees people, this isn't the case here, this isn't misplaced compassion, this is rightly placed compassion. We don't get rid of all compassion just so that we can say we're a man, okay? This isn't the case here, okay? Jesus sees people who are suffering and has compassion. These were desperate people seeking to be healed. Not only those who were sick, but the family and friends who were helping the sick were probably exhausted. And Jesus had compassion. They were scattered abroad. We can have compassion on those who are scattered abroad, right? They were like sheep who had no shepherd. Nobody to minister to them, to guide them, to lead them, to help them. This is a time for compassion. The time for compassion. Then we read that our compassion also drives our prayer life. Because we are compassionate, Because we are sanctified, including our emotions, it is compassion that moves us to pray for more laborers. Why do we want more laborers to help us? Is it because we care about people and want to help people? Is it because we're compassionate? What is our motivation? Why would we pray for more laborers? Why would we pray that God would add to us? What would be our motivation? We see a lot of people that need compassion and we can't get to them all. Our hearts move us. Being conformed to the image of Christ is having the same emotional motivations as he does. It seems that churches and maybe especially pastors can easily lose sight of sanctified compassion And ask, maybe even ask the Lord in prayer for more labors because of other motivations besides compassion for the lost. We all want God to send labors and to add members, but what drives that desire for growth? The other side of the issue is also wrong. Having no desire for God to add laborers means there is nothing moving us to pray for laborers, including no compassion for the multitudes. I see many times, I see many times laborers, many times missionary laborers, their cry is that the need is so great. Is there anyone that can come and help? Is there anyone that can serve? I think their heart is, I have compassion for these people. That's my cry for more laborers. It's not a, I really wanna build my ministry bigger and be more awesome, therefore let's pray for more laborers. That's not the case. It's compassion for people. Compassion for the multitudes. Consider the heart of Paul, the Apostle Paul. Romans 10, one says, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Of course, you back up to chapter nine, verses one through three, it says, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. Now that's compassion. That's godly compassion for the lost. That is right motivation, right motives. The thing that motivates and drives our evangelism and a desire for church growth would be the heart of Christ. It's godly compassion, and that's why we ask for laborers. Things like pride and ambition are not good motivators unless the ambition is fueled by compassion for the lost. Too many times the desire for more labors is motivated by a man to build his ministry. You know, building a ministry can become an idol. And the desire for more labors is not driven by compassion for the lost, but rather a desire for things like the praise of men, greed, competition, pride. Those things are not what's supposed to motivate us, to cry out to God for more laborers. It's compassion for the people. That's what drives our prayer life, for the Lord to send laborers, compassion for people. Why do we support missionaries and want to see the gospel go forth? Because we see the people who are like sheep having no shepherd. Because compassion for them moves us like it did Jesus, rightly placed. But he didn't only minister to their physical suffering, he preached the gospel. The greater need was the gospel of the kingdom. Verse 35 says, and Jesus went in about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. The gospel of the kingdom. The good news about the kingdom was tightly tied to the good news of salvation for our souls. We see this more clearly in Mark 1. Mark 1, 14 and 15 says, now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Then he says, repent ye and believe the gospel. The study Bible says this, the gospel of the kingdom refers to the good news of God's reign and arrival of his kingdom through Jesus Christ. This message was central to Jesus' ministry and is rooted in Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah and the establishment of God's rule. The kingdom of God is both a present reality and a future hope as Jesus inaugurated it through his life, death, and resurrection, and it will be fully realized at his return. The kingdom of God is good news. Preaching repentance is compassion for the lost. Condoning sin is not compassion. Lies don't set you free. Have you seen that before? It's like people, they think that condoning sinful behavior is a compassionate thing. That's not compassionate. They're going to hell. Not only that, not only are they going to hell, but it's destroying, that sin is destroying them in this life. That's not compassionate to condone people's sinful behavior. Lies don't set you free. The truth sets you free. True compassion is preaching repentance. Jesus ate with sinners and he healed sinners. But it wasn't only John who preached repentance. Jesus preached repentance and he was full of compassion. Jesus was and is the greatest man who ever lived. More powerful, wiser, greater than any other man. He is the great prophet, priest, and king. He is a king full of compassion, a prophet full of compassion, and a priest full of compassion. We'll end with Hebrews 4, 14 through 16. This is a real man. This is the man, the most manly man. seeing then 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, we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, was touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Therefore, Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Knowing he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, he is a compassionate and loving God. Son of man, Son of God, our wonderful Lord and Savior. His example for our lives. the perfect man. Lord I pray that you would bless now and Lord be with our time of fellowship. Lord bless the few that are here and Lord may we