The Compassion of Jesus (Part 2)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth. Voice feels pretty good today. Last few days, this is Z-Pak, Zithromax. Off we go. You can write us info at nocompromiseradio .com if you please, or me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com.

A funny little story here at the beginning. I can't remember who sent it to me. Maybe Steve Meister or Rich Barcellos, one of those crazy Reformed Baptist guys. There's more than one Mike Abendroth. My first name is M-I-C-H-E-L, but sometimes in records, it's M-I-C-H-A-E-L.

I usually don't correct people. I go by Mike usually. I remember seeing someplace on a Twitter account, there's another Michael Abendroth. He's, I don't know, an attorney in San Fran or who knows what and where and all that.

Just interesting. I'm sure he goes by Abendroth. There's a Michael Abendroth that, I guess, is tweeting stuff about Christianity and how he's a believer. I was sent something by one of those guys. He, the other Michael Abendroth, was arguing for kind of a, you do your part, God does his part, then you do your part.

He wasn't saying it's grace alone and you simply respond with faith and that faith is even God given, Ephesians 2, Philippians 129, Acts, et cetera. It was more Arminian. It was more probably Pelagian, semi-Pelagian, maybe a mixture of all three of those.

All that to say, if you're questioning my dedication to Reformed theology, Galvanism, Monergism, the Solas, you don't have to worry about it. That's the wrong guy. So from now on, from here on out, if you read something online about a Michael Abendroth that you don't like because you think it's aberrant, it's the wrong guy.

It's not me. It's not me at all. I know it's just like... So anyway, I've got my way out now. So anytime you don't like what Michael Abendroth writes, well, then you should contact him. Oh, Michael Abendroth here, No Compromise Radio Ministry.

You know, all you have to do in life is study and when you say something wrong, you just correct it, right? If I used to believe eternal functional subordination, I did. You just correct it, move on. And you know, it's not that hard to admit, right?

The Lord wants us to do that. It's okay. If you used to be an Arminian and now you're not, and you just, Lord, this is what I thought. And I believed it with my heart and I was wrong. So does God like repentance?

Absolutely. Today, part two, the compassion of the Lord Jesus. As you know, at No Compromise Radio, I'm really trying to focus on the Lord, duplex gratia, duplex gratia radio, DGR. I have to remember those letters sometimes.

GBR. Am I in Deutschland? Bitte. I think I told you I'm doing the four languages, Latin, as we say here, Latin, Spanish, Greek, Hebrew. Hebrew is the hardest, modern Hebrew. I don't get much done in my Duolingo with modern Hebrew.

Greek is actually harder. I know the Greek letters because I understand Koine Greek and I read the Greek New Testament in the morning. So I'm familiar with that. But some of the ways they pronounce words, like the delta, is a little bit interesting.

And anyway, just harder. Spanish, easier because I kind of knew Spanish. Latin, I figured it out now. You add the verbs at the end and kind of easier than I thought. Maybe I can read John Owen better.

But when it comes to other languages, I think that's what I was talking about. Maybe German. I used to go to Germany all the time. Don't really go anymore. So years ago, I thought I should probably learn German.

Now I would know German and never go to Germany. You know? Jesus should not be thought of apart from, I mean, his benefits, the benefits of Jesus should not be thought of apart from the person. And therefore, gospel preaching, gospel-centered preaching, redemptive historical preaching, preaching the gospel to other people, preaching the gospel to yourself.

When we talk about gospel-centered living, when we talk about a gospel life, a life centered on remembering who the gospel is, the God of the gospel, Jesus of the gospel, I know that. Benefits of Jesus and Jesus go together.

Therefore, when you're reading the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, of Jesus, good news about Jesus, you won't just see simply Jesus' strict law-keeping, although he perfectly obeys the for others.

He's inherently righteous. He doesn't have to obey for himself. If you see Jesus dying for sins, obviously he doesn't die for sinners, his own sins. He dies for sinners. You have to take that out there.

Take that out, Spencer. I never learned the trombone, but my daughter Gracie did. Anyway, we need to be reminded that Jesus is powerful, wise, righteous, and compassionate and merciful. So today on No Compromise Radio, the compassion and mercy of the Lord Jesus.

Remember last time we were talking about Jesus coming from the synagogue and he goes to Capernaum. He goes to Simon's house. Simon's wife's mother, the mother-in-law of Simon, is sick with a really bad high fever, a mega fever, and she's lying there.

She's, as it were, been thrown onto the bed. It's so bad. And they entreat Jesus, can you do something for her? And he, like a good physician with good bedside manners, stands over her and heals her. And she begins to serve.

By the way, what's the significance of her service? When I get done with my sicknesses, I'm weak and I need to recover a little bit more. When I get, you know, my fever's gone, but I'm still tired and languishing a little bit.

To show you how effective this was, the authority of Jesus and the power of Jesus, he completely heals and she's ready to serve, right? And she serves out of gratitude, I'm certain. I mean, here's grace gratitude right there.

God does something great and you want to respond with gratitude. And she begins to serve. It's a complete healing and it's a compassionate healing, a powerful healing, authoritative healing. And Luke wants you to realize this is the Messiah.

And if you're not a believer, you ought to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who now is the risen savior. And if you're a believer, falling on hard times, difficulties in your life, stomach, that's what happens when you don't eat for 18 hours.

As a believer, you keep believing because you're like, oh yes, well, I might not see his compassion. I know he's compassionate and I'll trust in his word. We're working through Luke, but there's a passage in Matthew that I want you to see.

So today, if you're thinking, oh, it's another chapter in Luke, it's more about Jesus. Well, you're right about Jesus. And I also want to talk about his compassion and his mercy. So Matthew chapter 12, verses 15 to 21, Now, I'm going to read verses 18 through 21 in Matthew chapter 12, and it's going to be taken from Isaiah 42.

Isaiah 42. And before I read this, I want you to think about generals. I want you to think about conquerors. I want you to think about kings. And I want you to think to yourself, what would Alexander the Great do to people he conquered?

What would Darius do? What would Cyrus do? What would Nebuchadnezzar do? What would Napoleon do? What would Nestalian do? My stomach will not quit crawling. Here we go. I guess we have to feed it with coffee.

Boy, that's a bad cup of coffee. Why is that? Why is church coffee bad? But we're going to see Jesus's demeanor. It's going to be completely different. And forget Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Neapolitan.

I hated that ice cream. Always eat the chocolate out first when you were a kid, then you got around to the vanilla, and then the strawberry was last. I can't think of a strawberry ice cream that I've ever liked except the super duper organic-y, super expensive gelato type with fresh berries.

There's nothing like that, that I would never order. It's like ordering pistachio ice cream or pistachio gelato, and there's hardly any pistachios in it. It's green. That's about it. The Pharisees, how would they treat people that couldn't contribute, broken down, worthless to society?

How would they treat them? Can't give much to the synagogue. How do they act? Well, let's read about the Lord Jesus, the servant from Isaiah 42, found here in Matthew 12. Behold, my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well-pleased.

I will put my spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory, and in his name the Gentiles will have hope.

Two little words that I want you to think about. Reeds and wicks, found in verse 20. They're modified, a bruised reed and a smoldering wick. So, we have bruised reeds and smoldering wicks. And maybe what you think of right away is Richard Sibb's book called Bruised Reed or Bruised Reeds.

I can't remember which one. There's a prophecy in Isaiah 42. How does the servant of God that culminates with a substitutionary death in Isaiah 53, how does the servant of God act toward people? What's his ministry like?

What would he be known for when he arrives? Well, the answer in this passage, in this section, is he's kind, he's merciful, he's gentle, and he's compassionate. While the Pharisees were ruthless, oppressive, stifling, suffocating, Jesus is compassionate and gentle.

So, you ought to be saying, remember I've been saying this in Luke series for 15 sermons, you're to say, oh, that's the Jesus I believe in. That's my Jesus. I understand who Jesus is, his person, because what he does stems from who he is.

Duh. Let's talk about the bruised reeds. So, what's a reed? Well, and what's it for? You would use a reed to make a variety of things. Reeds grew up in marshes, riverbanks, and you could just cut the reed and you could make it into something.

I guess you could make it into a toothpick. You could make it into something to write with. You could make it into something to measure things with. And lots of times, people would use reeds to make a little musical instrument.

Shepherds would do that, by the way, make a little flute. And so, you could just, I mean, these things, they're by the thousands. And if you get a bad one, just discard it. Don't use that, use a different one.

If you cut it wrongly, just throw it away, get a different one. I mean, these things are a proverbial dime a dozen, which I don't know. No, they were cheaper than that. And if you threw one away after you used it for a flute or a measuring device or something to write with, if you threw it away, no one in the world, no one in Israel would say, oh, I can't believe you did that.

Poor little reed. No, I mean, they're just worthless. They're useless. Doesn't work at all. They're, I mean, just a fragile little thing. But they're a dime a dozen. Now, you see the point? I know you see the point.

You figured it out. This fragile, common, throw it away if it's no good, can't help me, worthless, toss it. No one would say that was wrong. And it's not wrong with a real reed. Nobody's going to blame the shepherd for doing that.

But here, Jesus prophesied in Isaiah 42, talks about how he deals with people that at least to the Pharisees and maybe even to themselves in society, they don't contribute much. They're hurting. They're down and out.

They're struggling with sin. They're caught up in something they shouldn't be caught up in. They don't seem to value themselves much. Other people don't seem to value them either. And what's the attitude of the great shepherd?

What's the attitude of the great physician? What's the attitude of the Lord Jesus to people like you and to people like me? While I make a lot of jokes about broken people and wounded, and everybody talks about we're so broken, we're so wounded.

I don't want them and their overuse to take away the real use. If you are a broken down person, physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, if you're just hurt by other people, you're wounded, and you've got the scars to prove it maybe on your conscience, maybe in your brain, maybe on your body, how does Jesus deal with you?

I mean, there are millions of people. There's a lot of image bearers that are just basically a dime or a dime a dozen. Does Jesus just say to you, you know what? You're worthless. You're broken down. You're not good for anything, and I'm just going to toss you.

I'm just going to throw you away like I would a bent or battered or bruised reed. I'm just going to throw it away. Who cares? But that's not what the Lord does. A bruised reed he will not break. He doesn't say, well, you know what?

It's a broken reed. I'll just break it off and get another one. He doesn't do that. So you see, Luke is trying to show you the compassion of the Lord Jesus, his gentleness, his kindness, his mercy. That's what he's trying to show you.

Do you see it? Of course you see it. Well, there's another word that's used here, and it's a smoldering wick. The word is wick. The words are smoldering wick. Well, what's going on there? I think we get the bruised reed part pretty well.

What about smoldering wicks? By the way, smoldering wicks don't illuminate. They don't light things up. What does it do? Smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke. And sometimes you have a candle at your house and you'll blow out the candle.

And for some reason, the wick is bad. And instead of giving off a little bit of smoke, I mean, it just goes and goes and goes and goes and goes. And finally you go over there and you could probably spit or wet your fingers with a little bit of spit or maybe some tap water.

And you take your index finger and your thumb and you just quickly extinguish that. You have a smoldering wick and you snuff it out. And back in those days, if you had the wick that was lying in the olive oil to be the lamp, it's inside the lamp, you need a new wick.

That's a bad wick. You got a bunch of wicks. They're a nickel. A baker's dozen. Snuff that thing out, toss it. I mean, how much does a little flax cost? Got a bunch of flax. Got spare flax, extra flax.

I mean, what's easier? Repair the flax or snuff it out and throw it away and get a new one? See where we're going with this? They're cheap. They're common. It's going to take a lot more to fix this than it is to just replace it.

Broken person, wounded person, hurting person. You know what? They're not worth the trouble. They don't contribute. Might as well just get somebody else to fill the seat versus taking care of this person.

This person is basically causing me a lot of trouble, making a lot of smoke, no light, not doing what they're supposed to do, more problems than what they're worth. But that's not what the Lord Jesus does.

That's what I probably would do. That's what you would probably do. That's what the Pharisees did. That's what Alexander the Great did. What does the Lord do? Patiently, gently, compassionately, not forsaking, and repairs that and fixes it so it can now be used to illumine the house.

For weak people, for helpless people, for those enslaved in sin and caught up in something they shouldn't be, those that struggle with something, those that had something done to them, the Pharisees aren't good shepherds.

Breaking people, snuffing people out, they're of no use. And what does the Lord do? He doesn't do what the Pharisees do. He helps struggling Christians. He shows them the compassion of God the Father that he was sent to show.

Isn't that good? Bruce Reed. Are you Bruce Reed? Are you a smoldering wick? Sound familiar? Yeah. Well, the Lord, your Lord has tender concern for you. Matthew 9, and seeing the multitudes, he felt compassion for them because they were distressed and downcast like a sheep without a shepherd.

Is that you? Downcast, distressed? Sounds like me many times. One of the things that I think I probably said on the show that with these two cancer targeting drugs that I'm on now, take one in the morning, same thing at night, same dosage, same pill.

And then dinnertime, I take these other four of the same kind. They're of the same kind, but they're different than the one I take in the morning and later at night. So two different pills, six units.

And I don't know. I just feel weird sometimes. I feel that things that make me happy don't make me that happy anymore. Things that used to give me great joy don't really give me great joy anymore. Emotional.

Sometimes I want to cry for no reason. I don't usually have too many pity parties for myself, but those tend to be quite often the case now. I'm not depressed. I'm not suicidal. I'm not any of those things, but it's just hard.

It's just a hard season. It's a hard time. And my friend, Phil Howard, who's coming to Bethlehem Bible Church, by the way, in May 17th through 19th for a conference on marriage. You ever want to get big conferences and high attendance, you do it on marriage or prophecy, marriage or end times.

You do it on the Trinity, nobody shows up. And we've done things on the Trinity, so now it's marriage. Marriage should make you think of Christ and the church, right? Anyway, I feel distressed often. I feel downcast often.

I'm broken. My body's certainly broken and just spills into other things. And then it's exacerbated by medicine. Phil Johnson. Hi, Phil. Hey, Phil, if you're listening, I still love you. Phil Howard would say, Mike, don't forget you're taking medicine and it's affecting you.

And don't just think you're simply carnal for your lack of joy and lack of other things. Matter of fact, I wrote a whole chapter on that in the new book, Cancer Is Not Your Shepherd. Jesus loves people, especially those that struggle, right?

If you've got a sick child, you say, well, I'm giving them more attention. I'm gonna help them out, especially because they're sick. They need to make a little nest with their blanket on the couch and special little foods and special attention and love and talking to and prayers.

If that's our attitude toward our children that are hurting, I mean, what about the Lord's? And therefore, here's a woman, Simon's mother-in-law back in Luke chapter 4, and Jesus serves. Jesus helps.

Jesus comes alongside someone that had a sickness and he instantly or organically and compassionately healed her. And she, out of gratitude, serves. Isn't that wonderful? Later in Luke, it says that the sun was setting and all those who had any, who had sickness or various disease, were brought to him and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them with compassion, with kindness, and then cast out demon-possessed people.

Well, my name's Mike Ebenroth. It's No Compromise Radio here. I think that kind of says it all, doesn't it? I don't even really have to elaborate anymore for you to say, I get the picture. I understand what's going on.

I am a bruised reed very often. I am a smoldering wick very often, and I need the compassion and tenderness of the Lord Jesus, and it's all possible, especially with a sympathetic high priest, because of the incarnation, because Jesus truly is man.

Yes, he's truly God as well, but he is the perfect man, and the perfect man has compassion. The perfect man is gentle. The perfect man is the Lord Jesus. My name's Mike Ebenroth. This is No Compromise Radio ministry, and I think we're going to have a shorter show today just to land the plane.

No Joe Osteen today to end the show.