Does Anyone care? (Part 2)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry, Mike Ebenroth and Michael Lee Ebenroth. You can write me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. If you want to ask Spencer a question, looking for an old episode out of the 4 ,000 we've done, you can email Spencer, info at nocompromiseradio .com.

Two new books, Jesus and Cancer. A small handout-able booklet that contains most of the stuff that I wrote for Cancer's Not Your Shepherd. I just took out the Thomas Watson and J .C. Ryle stuff at the end, condensed it, and I don't know, 50 pages or something.

And then Law Gospel, a primer. Either of those, if you want to order 10 or more, 40 off. Plus shipping, just email me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. Today, I'm continuing to talk a little bit about the compassion of Jesus.

And I think during the incarnation period called Christmas, Advent, that some of you celebrate. Some of you are pagans and don't celebrate it. Sorry, I didn't mean that. I mean some of you, because of pagan celebration, don't celebrate Christmas.

I don't care.

If your conscience won't let you celebrate Christmas, then don't celebrate it. That's fine. It's okay. I might think you're immature or I might think you're weak, but I don't think you're an unbeliever if that happens.

But don't dare have a Christmas tree up. Jeremiah 10, 1 to 5. I don't think I ever believed that. I believed a lot of fundamentalistic things, but I didn't believe that. We've always had a Christmas tree.

We usually go cut one down, but they're so expensive this year. And we missed a week. We were in California, and so by the time we come back, most of the tree farms around here, they're just empty practically, and we don't want to get a pre-cut one.

So we do have a fake one. This will be the first time my wife got a fake one at Lowe's, like January 10th or something for hardly any money. So we have a fake one just in case.

It's a backup.

That would be bad. If I were to tell my wife, you know, will you please marry me back in— she wasn't my wife then—please marry me, and when we're married 36 years, we have to have a fake tree. I don't know if she would marry me.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. I would like to know if you think empathy and sympathy are the same. What's the difference between empathy and sympathy? And most people would say sympathy does something in addition to empathy.

Empathy might feel pain, feel grief, come alongside of to feel that, but sympathy has that, but it has more, and that is a desire to help, a willingness to alleviate some of the negative consequences of what's going on.

And so in Luke 7, you see Jesus. He's with his crowds. He leaves Capernaum after healing the servant of the centurion. He's got great power, authority. He is the one. He is the Messiah, and a band of men around him and other people who are following, Pharisees excluded, are happy.

They run in a headlong providential collision with a funeral procession. The family of the loved one, deceased loved one, would lead it, and they have like a big pallet with the corpse wrapped up, put on top of the pallet, and then there'd be musicians and mourners and some of the community there, weeping and wailing, and Jesus goes up and touches the beer, touches the pallet, and some call it coffin, but that's not it.

It's the litter that carried the corpse, and that corpse was wrapped up in cloth, and this frame that they would move along had the body on top. Jesus touches it, and with the leper, Jesus touches the leper, and normally you'd become unclean and you'd become defiled, but the holy one of God, the one without sin, Jesus, instead of getting defiled, cleanses that which was defiled.

Just like with the leper, here as well, Numbers 19 .11, whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. That's not true for Jesus. Numbers 19 .16, whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally or touches a human bone or a grave shall be unclean seven days.

Maybe the residents of the city Nain, which means beautiful or pleasant, knew who Jesus was, but I don't think the lady knew. We don't really know, but Jesus comes to do his greatest miracle so far. Some say the greatest miracle in all the Bible is raising people from the dead.

He, Jesus, will soon raise Jairus' daughter from the dead. He will raise Lazarus from the dead. He's raised himself from the dead. And he's in a little place south of Capernaum, southeast of Capernaum, about a day's walk in a place called Nain.

Remember, reports have gone out about Jesus in the surrounding region, including this region. That's Luke 4 .37. And the text says Jesus had compassion. He felt compassion. Now, the English word compassion, it's interesting.

It is with together or with come and patri to suffer, to suffer with. Here we have the compassion of the Lord Jesus. The Greek uses something that's more visceral, talking about from deep within someone to feel compassion or sympathy or pity.

It has to do with bowels deep down in your gut, in the inner part of your body, in the seat of emotions. Zechariah said this of John the Baptist, Because of the tender, that's the same word, mercy of our God, compassionate mercy of our God,.

How does Jesus love people? How does he show compassion? Here we have the God-man showing this compassion for this lady who's lost not only her husband in the past, but now her son. Does anybody care for me?

Does anybody love me? Is anybody concerned about me? If you ask those questions, Christians, you should know what the answer is. And of course, just a quick survey of the Bible with this word, Splankna, the Greek word, you can just trace God's compassion in the Old Testament.

His compassions never fail. They're new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Exodus 33, God said, The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth.

That's Exodus 34. And then, of course, in the New Testament, you see the incarnate Jesus regularly. Matthew 9, he felt compassion. They were like sheep without a shepherd. He felt compassion for them in the large crowd and healed their sick.

He moved with compassion, touched their eyes, and they regained their sight. He, with compassion, stretched out his hands and says,. Jesus in Mark 8 says he had compassion for the people because they've remained with him for three days and have nothing to eat.

And probably the time where you need compassion more than any other time, and I only know this indirectly, is if you lost a loved one. Especially a child. The death of a child. Now, Kim had something called a molar pregnancy, and I don't know if a baby was ever conceived.

Obviously, it wasn't birth. She had a D &C after. I don't know. Will I get to heaven and see another baby? Well, I won't probably see any babies in heaven. I'll see if a baby did die. They'll probably be 30-ish when they get their glorified body, right?

If you get to heaven now, what will you see? I'm sure you'll see the Lamb on the throne, the Lamb in the center, the glory of the Lord Jesus. No new bodies yet until the general resurrection. Robert Dabney was a theologian.

His systematic theology was really good. I read it years ago, and I don't think that's changed. That is my assessment. It hasn't changed, of course. It's fixed. But my assessment hasn't changed. Sometimes I'll read a book in the past, I reread it, and I'm like, why did I like that?

Or I'll read a book in the past and not like it, and then read it again now and really like it. I read Jerry Bridges' Gospel for Daily Living ten years ago, and I always rate the books that I read, and I rate the ones that I write, too.

I think I gave it a B, B or something like that. I reread it, and I thought, A+++++. Jesus, at the worst time, death of a child, is there. And Dabney wrote this letter to his brother. He was away doing church stuff and heard his son got really sick, so he traveled all night to get there.

And here's what Dabney said. We used prompt measures and sent early for the doctor, who did not think his case was dangerous. But he grew gradually worse until Sunday, when his symptoms became alarming, and he passed away after great sufferings.

Monday, a half hour before he died, he sank into a sleep, which became more and more quiet until he gently sighed his soul away. This is the first death we have had in our family and my first experience of any great sorrow.

And then the next line is just devastating. I have learned rapidly in the school of anguish this week and am many years older than I was a few days ago. Don't you want to reach out and hug him? Help him?

If you were alive back in those days, to do anything for him? And of course, the Lord sees this woman. It's all providentially arranged. He has compassion. He knows about her suffering. He wants to relieve it.

He wants to alleviate it.

He sees, he feels, he speaks, and he knows,.

Because he is the God man. He wants to fix it. He wants to make it right. And he does. That's amazing. He sees her and is moved with compassion, knowing what she's lost. Love, pity, compassion, sympathy.

Some philosophers back in those times, I read, would say something like this. Do not grieve, for it will do no good. Now, Jesus doesn't say don't grieve. He says something else, that unless you're Jesus, you ought not to say.

Do not weep. He's had compassion on her and said to her, Luke 7, 13, do not weep. Don't cry. Now, the mourners are paid to cry. Was this the right thing to say? Well, if the son is raised, it's the right thing to say.

But if the son's not going to be raised, and there's no reason why they should ever think that the son would be raised, maybe 1 Kings, 2 Kings, there's some dead people raised from the dead, but that's a long time ago.

You have to be dead to be raised from the dead. That is true. But back on point. He says don't weep, because he's going to do something. Don't wail. Don't lament. This is the kind of crying that more than tears come down.

Your face shows it. Your body shows it. Your shoulders show it. I mean, look at how mean Jesus is. Look at how uncaring, how callous. Don't cry?

What do you mean?

She has something to cry about. You know, when we would get something happen to us, don't cry or I'm going to give you something to cry about. Is Jesus insensitive? Or is he saying, all eyes on me? Is he saying, look to me?

Is he saying, believe? Is he saying, I'm here now, and I'm going to do something about it? And of course, in moments, in seconds, he does. Here the man of sorrows says don't weep.

It's right to weep. It's right to mourn.

He comes up, stops a procession, touches the platform that has the dead body on it. The bearer stands still, and he says, young man, I say to you, arise. I'm going to intercept death. Here's the plank that has the body on top, and he interrupts the funeral.

People, you're not to interrupt funerals. They know that today. They know that other days. You don't interrupt funerals. This plank or this stretcher has the body, and Jesus goes right up to it. And one writer insightfully wrote, and there was nothing in the dead young man to merit this miracle.

Hmm.

Jesus didn't say, what a good looking corpse. I've never seen such a fine corpse. I'm going to raise him up from the dead. No merit, no works, no goodness, only compassion divine. Divine compassion? Compassion from the God-man, the incarnate one who can have sympathy.

All of grace. I almost got myself into Trinitarian problems. I meant the God-man as compassion. From the essential nature of God's goodness flows to the God-man compassion. Is that okay? Would Meister agree?

Remember the centurion? Just say the word.

That's all Jesus has to do.

All he has to do is say, young man, I say to you, arise. He could just say arise, but here, he tells the corpse to rise. Now, I used to say that to the kids. Not arise, but what I'd say to the kids, we'd go to a funeral, we'd look at the dead body, and I would say, remember kids, one day you'll be in that box.

Remember that only Jesus can say arise. Right? Cold body, dead body, stiff body, and every molecule instantaneously rises from the dead. Becomes alive. The dead man sits up and talks. Jesus speaking to a dead man.

Just go to a cassock sometime and just say arise.

You have the waves.

Come in the ocean, along the shore, and God says, here shall your proud waves be stayed. You should come this far and no farther. I read one commentary that said, that's kind of what God says here to death.

This is as far as you go. That's amazing. And if you're not careful, Christian, you might say to yourself, God who raises the dead, this particular one man is going to raise all mankind on that last day.

And you would be.

Correct.

Correctamundo.

John 5. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.

Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

And he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

I wonder what the look of the mom was. I'm sure it's astonishment, amazement, marveling. I wonder how long it took for the mourners to stop mourning and the musicians to stop musiciating and to show that the miracle is true, he talks.

I wonder what he said. What am I doing here? Jesus, I'll do whatever you said, but I was up in heaven and now I'm back. I have to do this again, eventually to die again. For sure, we see death swallowed up in victory.

It's fascinating. The accounts in the Old Testament where the dead was raised is not like this. There was a real effort by the prophets, Elijah and Elisha. There was real work that went into it. First Kings 17, and he cried to the Lord, O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourned by killing her son?

Then he stretched himself on the child three times and cried to the Lord, O Lord my God, let this child's life come into him again. And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah and the life of the child came into him again and he revived.

Unlike Elijah, who cries and cries and stretches out himself on the child's body three times, Jesus just says the word. Unlike Elisha, who in 2 Kings 4, it says he went into the house and he saw the child lying dead on his bed.

So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm.

Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house and went up and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times and the child opened his eyes. No prayer, no stretching, no anything.

He says the word. Like the centurion said, Jesus, say the word. Say the word. He gave him back to his mother. That's the language from 1 Kings 17, delivered him to his mother. Guy sets up, sits up,.

Begins to speak.

Jesus gives him over. Now we see that Jesus' words were not inappropriate, but they were very appropriate. And like Jesus loves to do, he loves to raise the dead, especially for those here in the passage and for Jairus' daughter and for Lazarus.

It's kind of like, you know, ladies that have lost a loved one, he's especially kind to, right? Mary and Martha with Lazarus here. I don't know what happened to the people who were holding him. When did the pallbearers say, the coffin bearers, the beer bearers, when did they say, get down.

We're tired of carrying you. So there's a response. What's the response? What's your response to that? Fear seized them all. They glorified God saying, a great prophet has risen among us and God has visited his people.

And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country. Fear, glorifying report spreads. Now the fear here is not the fear of eternal death. This is awe. This is divine presence is there.

So we're going to respond with a reverential, holy awe, knowing God is here. They're not scared, but they're gripped by,.

Wow, this is God. This is God.

And then they glorify the Lord, say good things about God, praise God, thank God, a great prophet has appeared among us. He's got power. He's got authority. He's got compassion. We know, remember in Deuteronomy 18, Moses said, the Lord, your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers.

It is to him you shall listen. Here is the one. He's come to help his people. He's come to visit his people. And that's an Old Testament expression for God working, intervening in the lives of his people.

Exodus four, and the people believed that when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel, Ruth one six, the Lord had visited his people and given them food. Psalm 106, remember me, oh Lord, when you show favor to your people, help me when you save them.

The mother is praising, certainly, but now it spreads to the rest of the crowd. God has come to help sympathy and able to do something about it. Prophet has arisen, just like that young boy. He's been raised from the dead.

They can't contain themselves and the report spreads. What you see in this passage is Jesus, a friend of sinners, Jesus sympathetic, Jesus compassionate, Jesus powerful, Jesus a prophet, not just back then, but I ask you the question, do you have any problems?

Do you need compassion? Do you need somebody to care for you? If you're a Christian, don't forget about the Lord Jesus. Jesus knows all about your troubles, as the song says. What a friend we have in Jesus, the hymn writer writes.

My name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry, and I want you to know that your friend Jesus, your savior Jesus is powerful. He's a powerful friend. He's a sympathetic friend. He's a comforting friend.

He's a providential friend. He's a powerful friend. He's a joy producing friend, and he's a friend worth telling others about. So Christian, no matter your trials, would you praise the Lord Jesus? Give him thank.

You have hope of the ultimate resurrection. You have the ultimate hope now. You'll have the ultimate reunion with your loved ones in Christ. What a loving, comforting savior.