A Portrait Of God's Pity

I wonder if you've ever had somebody say something to you or do something, and what goes on in your head is, what were they thinking?

I remember sitting downtown Webster at lunch once, for a lunch break

I, in the summertime, would go out and sit on the bench right in front of Town Hall. And I was getting up and going back to the office and a gentleman was there who'd come out of the

Town Hall, heading towards his car, and I just struck up a conversation from the Town Hall to his car.

And he was proud of his 1980 whatever station wagon that had just been painted.

And I looked at the paint job and I said, what was he thinking?

He said, I paid $5 ,000 to have this car painted. It was, it's just a gem, it's been,

I've had this car for such a long time. And I looked at the job that was done, and I certainly thought, what was he thinking?

One time, Deb was driving in a car with someone, and you ever gotten on the Mass Pike, and you have to make that Boston, New York choice, or Worcester and Springfield choice, and you almost make the wrong one, while she was driving with someone, and it said,

New York, Boston. Well, they were going home. We don't live in New York. And this person almost took the

New York exit, or entrance, onto the, and you know, sometimes if you do that, it's like, it can be a six to ten mile one -way, and then double that turnaround.

And Deb says, out loud, because she knew this person, what were you thinking?

Well, this morning, that title for this message this evening, What Were You Thinking, came to my mind, because one, we just have to have a title, so I need to give it one.

And I would like to take a look this evening at some of the examples of the disciples' lives in the

Gospels, and consider how it is that the Lord dealt with them. I asked

Bernard to read Psalm 103, and he graciously did that. And I was thinking of just so many different verses in there, but particularly verse 13, where it says, just as a father pities his children, so the

Lord pities them that fear him. And as Christians, if we would be honest with ourselves, we must really wonder at times why the

Lord really bothers with us at all. I mean, when we think of the way that we think, in our actions, we are so weak, and we fail so often, and our sins beset us, and we are prone to wander, as Robinson wrote in his hymn, he was prone to wander.

And we wander in our hearts, in our minds, in our ways, and sometimes we trust in ourselves and in others, instead of trusting in the

Lord. Sometimes we are unstable, running here and there, and it seems like there's no foundation in our lives, we don't really know why we're doing what we're doing, and when we should be quietly resting in the

Lord, we grow cold at times, we're hot at times, we're indifferent at times, maybe our hearts are not stirred toward the things of heaven and the things of God as they once were, or maybe we're just not in the place where we ought to be, our hearts can be dull, our ministry is ineffective, our prayers need to be prayed for, our preaching should be preached at, and we need to repent of our repentance, and what do we do?

And I'd like to, this evening, commend you, as Paul did to the elders in Acts chapter 20, when he was parting from them, he commended them to God and to the word of God's grace, which was able to build them up, and as we look at the word of God tonight,

I trust that it will build us up, and it will encourage us, and it will help us as we more than anything look at the

God who is our Savior, and how it is that He treats

His children, and always keep in mind that verse 13 of Psalm 103, as the father pities, or has compassion upon his children, so the

Lord pities them that fear Him, and that word fear in there has the whole idea of that is, that's just an

Old Testament term for someone who has saving faith, someone who is a believer, someone who would be called a

Christian, God has compassion upon believers, and I hope that we will be more than encouraged as we look at how the

Lord dealt with the disciples. Again, Psalm 103 and verse 13, if there is one word that could sum up the manner in which

God deals with His people, it is that word pity, it is that word compassion for His children, and God treats

His weak and feeble and sinful children with a tender compassion and with pity, and aren't you glad that the word of God tells us so.

He doesn't treat us, as it says in there, He's not always angry with us, as it says in verse 9,

He doesn't always chide, He doesn't always strive, He doesn't always contend with us, or He's not, in the end of verse 9,

He's not always angry with us forever, He has every right to be at times, especially when

He has called us to Himself, especially when we own the name of Christ, especially when we say we believe the word of God, we read the word of God, and we trust in the word of God, and we are resolved to obey

God, but sometimes it comes right down to it, what are we thinking? What are we thinking when we make that decision?

What are we thinking when we grasp on to that secret sin? What is it that is going through our minds when the

Lord would have us to act one way, and we go in just the opposite, or the Lord would have us follow in His footsteps, and we seem so reluctant to do so?

What are we thinking? Looking at our lives, and how we misbehave, and doubt the promises of God, and I'm not talking, the subject was brought up in Sunday school this morning,

I'm not talking about sinless perfection, because that's just not possible, we're only perfect in Christ, we have the perfect righteousness of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, through the finished work of Christ, but there is something about a progressive sanctification, we read that, we see that in the pages of the

New Testament, that we ought to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. Someone was recently talking to me, and I believe that many of the struggles that they're having in their

Christian walk, is because they are wired in such a way that they always need to get an

A plus in everything, and because they're not getting an A plus, when it comes to any, all the areas of their

Christian walk, they think they have to hit the mark every single time, and now that's the goal, and that's what we ought to desire, but many times it's just not possible based upon whether we're young children, or we're young men and ladies in the

Lord, or we're the aged men and women in the Lord, there's a maturity that comes, but it ought to be our goal and our desire to hit the mark, to walk in the ways of the

Lord more perfectly, but we don't always do that, do we? Sometimes when we go astray, sometimes

I mean we're so thankful, as we heard again this morning, as was taught that out of the book of 1st

John, which Brother Tilak brought to us, it's a great mercy of the

Lord that we can confess our sins, and He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

He doesn't deal with us, Psalm 103, and doesn't punish us according to our iniquities. He doesn't, the anger doesn't stay forever, and we're so grateful for that.

Thank God for His tender mercies and His tender pities. Now, again, this evening, I'd like to look at the wonderful pity of our

Lord, and if you would turn with me to Luke chapter 24, that's where we begin. In Luke chapter 24, and in each one of these instances, we are going to see the dialogue, we're going to see between the

Lord and His disciples, or between believers and the Lord, and we're going to see some actions, some behavior, and then we're going to come right down where we're going to see the pity of the

Lord. We're going to see the compassion of our God, and we're hopefully going to be able to plug ourselves right into those circumstances, right into these texts and say, yes,

I've thought that way. Yes, I've gone astray in my thinking, in my decision -making.

Yes, I have known what God would have me to do, and I would not do it.

I did not do it, or I failed in doing it as I ought to have, and yet look at how the

Lord dealt with these disciples, these believers, and the Lord does the same for me, and for His people,

His children today, and for the church of the living God. In Luke chapter 24, you remember this is after the death and the burial of our

Lord Jesus, and we have two that are beginning in verse 13. Two of them went the same day to a village called

Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem, about three score, four longs. They're walking towards Emmaus.

These two had heard the scriptures. They were well aware of the life and the ministry, and of course, the death of Jesus, because when

Jesus draws near in verse 15, and He goes and He walks with them, their eyes were prevented.

They didn't understand it was Him, and Jesus asked the question in verse 17, what manner of words or communication are these that you have one to another as you walk and are sad?

One of them, whose name was Cleopas, verse 18, answering said to him, aren't thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?

And he said unto them, what things? And they said unto him, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and all the chief priests and our rulers delivered

Him to be condemned to death and have crucified Him. But we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed

Israel. Beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. And on with the account of what took place after the death and the burial of Jesus Christ.

Now they had known of Christ. They had heard of Him. They were in Jerusalem, no doubt connected with the believers that were there.

But after it seems like their ideas of who the Messiah would be and what

He would come to do, and remember many of them thought that He would come and set up a kingdom and deliver them from the

Romans and He'd be a great redeemer and a great deliverer. But He was crucified to the cross and He was buried.

And there they are walking to Emmaus, walking away from the center of it all, so to speak.

When they hear Jesus ask them this question and they don't understand what does

Jesus say to them in verse 25, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

Ought not Christ who has suffered these things and to enter into His glory.

What I want to point out here in this is, is that Jesus didn't come alongside, ask this question, say you don't understand?

You don't get it? You're no longer my disciples. No, He didn't do that.

He uses these words here and in many of these instances tonight you'll see that there is a rebuke but you'll also see that behind it all there is a compassion.

There is a pity. There is a mercy and look what the Lord does.

As He's talking to them, He doesn't walk away from them. He doesn't turn away in disgust.

He doesn't say forget these guys. I don't want to be around these quitters who've left Jerusalem and now they're on their way to Emmaus.

No, He begins with Moses in verse 27. He goes to the scriptures and to the prophets and He expounds unto them the scriptures, the things concerning Himself.

He teaches them. He instructs them further. And isn't it just the mercy of the

Lord when we don't understand, when we don't get it, when we are so perplexed and we're just going in the opposite direction and maybe it looks like to other people on the outside that we're just quitting, we're just throwing in the towel, that's it,

I don't understand it, I'm getting away from this. That the Lord, we pick up the Word of God and the Holy Spirit brings the

Word of God to us. And our hearts, you know what happened in this instance as they go on, there are,

I mean, if I think about ourselves, I think about what we have done, there are times for us too when we are so faithful, faithless, and when we are so unbelieving, we have lapses of doubt that hinder us.

We sometimes don't believe the promises of the Word of God, but aren't you thankful that just as a father pities his children, so the

Lord pities those that fear Him. And doesn't He do that? We are so slow of heart to believe at times.

The Holy Spirit then comes as we open up the Word of God and assures us over and over again that the

Word of God is true, and God is true and every man is a liar. And what God has promised, He says in His Word, He will do.

And when we are wandering and don't understand what's going on, God's Word comes alive to us and our hearts have burned within us as He speaks to us, by the way, as the

Spirit of God brings the Word of God. Isn't that what happened to them? When Jesus was talking to them, they didn't know it was the

Lord, and they go back, it draws nighttime, and they go to the village and they press

Jesus to stay with them, and He does. And He breaks bread with them, and then at that point their eyes are open and they understand that it's the

Lord. And in verse 32, they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us, by the way?

It wasn't that He came out burning and blasting and saying, you quitters, you swole of heart,

I'm through with you. No, the Lord instructs them over and over and over again, and that's what happens in our lives also.

Isn't it just the mercy of the Lord? Isn't it just the pity of the Lord? And the result here is that after the

Lord speaks to them and corrects them and gets them to where they understand what it is that He was all about and what it meant for Him to come and what

His work really was all about according to the Scriptures, it says, this is the result of it, verse 33, they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven gathered together and them that were with them.

They went back to Jerusalem, back where it had all started from, where they had come from after the

Word of God had come alive to them. And to me, I like this phrase, they got back on the saddle. Sometimes we're knocked out of the saddle.

Sometimes the wind is knocked out of our sails, so to speak, as we're walking, we're striving along and we just don't understand and we just don't get it.

And yet the Lord so mercifully and with tenderness and with great compassion comes alongside us through the ministry of the

Spirit of God and opens up the Word of God to us and everything is well with our soul once again.

So we see in this first account here that sometimes we are slow of heart as the disciples are.

We just don't understand it and yet the Lord doesn't leave us there. The Lord is gracious to teach us and to bring us back in the way.

But slow of understanding would, I mean, if that was it, if that was all the issues were in the

Gospels, that would be okay, but there were other problems. They went a little bit further.

If you would turn with me in Luke chapter 9, I'm going to try to stay in the book of Luke as much as I can, but in Luke chapter 9,

I think I have to go out of the book for just one of the texts if I have enough time. Luke chapter 9, there is an instance in this chapter when a man brings his son who is possessed by a demon and the disciples can't deliver the son in the situation that he's in.

And so Jesus comes and after that instance, if you'll notice in verse 43, after the demon was, the man was, the son was released from the, from the evil spirit, it says in verse 43, and they were all amazed at the mighty power of God.

While they wondered, every one at all things with Jesus did, he said unto his disciples, let these sayings sink down into your ears.

Now he's instructing them, teaching them. Let these sayings sink down into your ears for the son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.

What does that mean? Somebody tell me, what does that mean at the end of that verse? The son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.

What is this foretelling of his crucifixion, of his, of the unjust treatment that he's going to take and of course his death upon the cross.

The Lord tells of his coming sufferings and they don't understand it in verse 45, but they understood not this saying and it was hid from them that they perceived it not and they feared to ask him of the same.

Now you're in a situation, even if it's hid from you, even if you don't, if you don't get it, the Lord has, has spoken.

You're the disciples and he's telling this thing about being delivered into the hands of men and I don't get it and they're afraid to ask him, do you think it's appropriate?

What happens in verse 46? Notice in verse 46, then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be the greatest.

And again, the question comes, doesn't it? What were they thinking? What were they thinking?

They begin to exalt themselves. You get the picture. Jesus has just told them that he's going to suffer at the hands of men.

If you go back to the account of Mark in Mark chapter 9, verse 32, it says he's at the same point, the same place, he's going to suffer at the hands of men and be killed.

Those are the words that, that Mark used. And you'd think that these men would have listened and cared about the master's needs and been really serious, but no, they're selfish and ambitious and looking out for number one, they begin to argue about who's going to be the big shot among them.

And of course that will devastate any life. It'll devastate any marriage. It'll devastate any family or, or any church or a family relationship.

They should have been thinking about what Jesus said. And what does the Lord do in response?

Does he tear them apart? Is he angry? No. In verse 47 and in verse 48,

Jesus perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child and set him by him. And he said unto them, whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me.

And whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.

Jesus gives them an object lesson. He's of course dealing with this problem, this sin of pride that has surfaced.

He was foretelling of his suffering of his cross and they're only interested in who is going to be the best, who is going to be the king of the hill, who knows the most, who's the strongest, who's got the most theological degrees, who's going to be first in line, who's going to have the biggest church, who's going to be able to preach the best.

And we shake our heads when we read that and ask, what could they have been thinking? But wait a minute.

How many times do we compare ourselves with others, maybe at an inappropriate time?

How many times do we think, well, am I better off than so -and -so or maybe you go this way, maybe

I'm not as bad off as somebody else or I'm stronger in the

Lord than, oh, if I could teach that lesson, I know I could do a whole lot better than that person.

Well, my ministry is more important than somebody else. And it's always dangerous, isn't it, brethren, for any

Christian to compare ourselves with another Christian. When we should be examining our lives and our experiences and our ministry and our church according to God's holy word and following Christ's example, we should take heed to the

Apostle Paul's word in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 12, where he said, wherefore, let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

What is the Lord's response? Again, he tells them his suffering. They don't understand it.

They're afraid to ask and afraid to ask about what that meant, but they're not afraid to reveal the foolish pride that is in their heart by saying who's disputing about who's going to be the greatest.

And he could have blasted them out of the water, but with tender mercy, he teaches them what is really important.

He teaches them what he is all about, what the Father has sent him for. Philippians, chapter 2, he humbled himself and he took on human flesh.

And ultimately, we know that that was done out of love and out of mercy so that we could be redeemed. And he does that all throughout his ministry.

He teaches this is not the only time, and we're going to look at one other one, that the disciples had this problem, that it rose in their hearts and minds.

He gives them an object lesson in humility, and he teaches them that who is going to be the greatest, it's the one who is the least of all.

That one will be the greatest. And our Lord tells them that true humility, and it's so important, isn't it, to think before we speak.

I looked at a verse this morning that I had, this evening that I remembered out of Proverbs 29, and it basically, there's many

Proverbs, there's about four or five of them that I can remember, but basically it talks about if you have an unstrained mouth, if you open your mouth and words just flow, it's a disaster or it's a formula for sin.

Proverbs chapter 10 speaks of that. If you open your mouth, you will not lack when it comes in the area of sin.

But Proverbs 29, verse 11 says, a fool utters all his mind. And that just kind of fit tonight with what are you thinking?

A fool utters all their mind, but it says a wise man holds it in.

A wise person, it even says in the Proverbs that even a fool is considered okay if they close their mouth.

And here we have with the disciples, and I think really many times with ourselves, we're not thinking about what we're saying, we're not looking at the context that we're in.

And we open mouth and insert foot, don't we? We are just not thinking about the seriousness of the situation.

I mean, it's inappropriate, wouldn't it be, if we're at the Lord's table, I believe. If we may be at times, maybe we ought to dim the lights a little bit.

It's a sober time. It's a time to reflect upon what the Lord has done on our behalf. I don't think at the

Lord's table it would be appropriate for us at that time, knowing what I know now because of our church and the relationship that we have, for us to open up to 239 and start singing, you know,

Jesus is coming again, right? It's inappropriate. It just doesn't fit.

And this didn't fit. The disciples' action here, their behavior, it just doesn't fit because the

Lord is talking about something serious and they just, just, just don't get it. And I believe it's important for us to think before we speak, to think before we speak.

And we understand through all of this that God's ways in this situation here, that God's ways are not our ways and that the way up truly is the way down.

Peter wrote it this way. Peter, who had no doubt been here and been in the ministry of the

Lord and heard over again and seen over again, we're going to see even later a particular instance, even in Peter, in Peter's life,

Peter got this. And later on he writes in first Peter chapter five, I believe it's in verse six.

He says, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may lift you up.

You see, our hand is not supposed to be on the pulley rope for us to be exalted, exalted and pulled and pulled up.

If we're to be exalted, if we're to be lifted up, if, if God is to, if we're to find favor in the eyes of the

Lord, it will be God doing it and not ourselves. And the disciples seem to have all this contention.

And I can't say that I fully, completely understand it. I do think that it has something to do with the old

Testament scriptures. It has something to do with thrones and, and authority and dominion and, and, and what they heard what he was teaching.

And Jesus did teach them about sitting upon thrones, but it's a little bit premature here and it's out of place.

And what were they thinking? And sometimes in our own lives, it's a bit premature to think the way that we do.

And it's so out of place to think the way that we are. Maybe it's, maybe it's too light when the situation is grave.

Maybe it is that, that someone is telling you, someone is telling you something very serious about what the

Lord is doing in their life. And you're just not smiling about it. You got to enter into it and weep when people weep.

And of course, rejoice when people rejoice there is to, there is to be a balance. But this was the second situation.

Now another that the Lord had to deal with in their lives. And it's also in, it's in Luke chapter nine after, right after this,

Jesus is heading towards Jerusalem. His ministry is coming to a close and we see in verse 51, it came to pass

Luke nine, verse 51, it came to pass when the time was come that he should be received up.

He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers before his face and they went and entered into the village of the

Samaritans. We know about the Samaritans. We just heard about them last, last weekend. And we have before they entered into this village to make ready for the

Lord. And they did not receive him because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem and notice what happens in verse 54.

And when his disciples, James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elijah did.

He's heading towards Jerusalem. His ministry is coming to a close and they don't understand what

Jesus is really all about even yet at this point, because notice how the Lord answers them.

He turns and rebukes them. And he says in verse 55, you know, not what manner of spirit or you do not know what type of spirit you are of.

They just they just didn't I mean, this is mean, this is a harsh spirit against their neighbor.

And you say, what were they thinking? And sometimes, what are we thinking when it comes to our neighbor?

And I'll touch on that a little bit as I as I go on with this point. What were they thinking?

I'll give you the Dave Jeffries take on this. This is how they were thinking, Lord, they've rejected you.

They're a bunch of no good sinners. Lord, do you want us to call down fire out of heaven? Lord, let's burn them up just like Elijah did.

Lord, they don't believe in you. So let's just wipe them off the face of the earth. My my, this is this is pretty mean, isn't it?

This came from a proud heart. This comes from an unloving heart, because we know that we are to love our neighbor as ourself.

And even these Samaritans in this village were these disciples neighbors and they just didn't get it.

Samaritans, half breeds, dogs. Who cares anyways? It's probably their thought.

And you know, really, isn't it sometimes our prejudices can blind our hearts to where we don't exercise proper judgment.

We just don't treat people the way that we should. We and our hearts can be hardened to where we just don't show the love that we should.

And sometimes I think you might know what I'm talking about. I mean, even coming to a church service, it's it's easy to come in and to sit down beside certain people.

Right. And then there's some people that it might be a little bit more difficult to sit down beside. And then there might be some people that you might say,

I'm not just not going to sit there. I'm just not going to talk. I'm not going to enter into it.

And that's the thing that I'm talking about. I mean, we look at the disciples and we say, how could they do this? Or or maybe we think about in the

Taliban, Al Qaeda, the Iranians, Muslims, our neighbor, that that guy on the street that just we have a funny story.

We've got to know our neighbors. And we bought one of those big steel leaf blowers, you know, the power blower backpack, huge tube on it, big old hole.

I mean, if you stand in front of that thing, it'll blow your hair back. And we give it to Caleb and he goes out and he blows the leaves.

We don't have to rake the leaves. We've got a lot tons of leaves. And the his M .O. was go out the front and blow it up on the street and across into the cow field across the way.

But sometimes it wouldn't go up and over the stone wall. So it would blow down and blow it in the neighbor's yard.

And before we knew them and we just we heard the repeat of this last night because we had them over. The husband in the house would get up and he'd look out the window and he's that kid again blowing their leaves in our yard because he knew that those leaves were to come into into our yard.

And I don't know why I use that illustration other than the fact that it has to do with our neighbor. Maybe you've got a neighbor that has really just a sandpaper, has really just a thorn.

And maybe there's somebody at work, you know, they're out to get you. You know, I had a guy

I remember in San Antonio, Texas, there was a manager in the I .T. department. He ate nails for breakfast.

I am sure of it. He never had a good thing to say. He was so pessimistic. I mean, nothing, nothing.

I mean, oh, woe is me. I mean, that was the whole story of his life. And I remember reading a story once about I can't remember the author of it, but the title of it was to kill people with kindness.

People who are like that kill them with kindness. So just be nice. And I just I worked there for three years,

I believe it was. And I did everything I could to kill him with kindness. I don't I don't think it happened. But, you know, near the end of it,

I did see him smile. At least he smiled. Is there somebody at work that is just, you know, they're out there gunning for you.

And you're you, it's just let that fire come down, just, you know, they deserve it.

I mean, they are they have rejected Christ. They're out of the way.

They don't care. It's not my fault. Let them go on to judgment. They deserve it anyways. Is there somebody that you've written off of this, somebody that you've given up hope on?

We ought not to get cynical because there is hope for that person. There was hope for us, wasn't there? That's the whole thing.

There go I, but by the grace of God, you look back and you probably could think there are some people that you wish you could talk to and just get something right, because then maybe that person isn't around anymore.

Maybe that person isn't alive because you were thorn in their side and God redeemed you. God loved you and sent his son to snatch you out of the grave, out of the pit.

From spiritual darkness to light, and now you are one of the Lord's children. And as he's been merciful to you,

I mean, they're just acting according to their nature, right? We have to understand that lost people are acting according to their nature and they can't do anything else but that.

I mean, you've heard me tell the story, but we have a we have a four legged creature at our home who was a corgi and that dog is bred to run and to herd.

I mean, she's wired for that and she doesn't do anything else but that. I went over to Pastor Mike's house and he told us the story of Jetty, the little dog who is just a wonder when it comes to jumping.

And this dog was just, he got something rigged up to get this dog. You don't need one of those squirrel cages.

He just put something up in the tree and the dog was trying to get it out of the tree and just kept going around and around for two and three hours, wearing the bark off the tree.

The dog is bred that way. And that's the way, I mean, that's so true. And lost people abound by their nature, their sinful nature, and that's how they're going to act.

And we can't expect them to act the way that we are going. We act based upon the indwelling of the

Holy Spirit. And so we need to have compassion and pity, not this, burn them up, Lord. I mean,

God can do the impossible, can't he? He can save. The cry of our heart ought to be the cry of the prophet

Jeremiah. Oh, that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.

And as the apostle Paul said in Romans 10 .1, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for these people who have, these

Israelites who have persecuted me, these who are chasing me down, these who just don't understand and they're blind, my prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.

We can learn from this, can't we tonight? We can learn that as we examine, we ought to examine our hearts and motives and ask ourselves the reason why we're doing what we're doing and maybe the reason why we're thinking the way that we're thinking, because we're not thinking properly.

We are supposed to serve our father, God, as Jesus did with the right type of spirit.

And that's what Jesus said. You don't understand. You just don't get it. In verse 55, what manner of spirit you are of.

As we heard from Pastor Steve's message this morning, Jesus went about doing good. The Lord Jesus went about to touch the untouchable, to love the unlovable, to be merciful to those who have no mercy, to care for and to save those whom it seems like it's absolutely impossible to be saved, and to go amongst sinners and to help them, to heal, to forgive.

And that's the way that we are to walk, to walk as Jesus walked, loving the unlovable and having mercy upon the blind.

A needful lesson in this area, in this text that we looked at, in pity our Lord teaches these men that he has come to help, to save.

Notice that he says in verse 56, for the son of man has not come to destroy men's lives. They want to rain down this fire upon heaven and just burn them up.

But Jesus says, I have not come to destroy. Who comes to destroy? Who comes to break in, to be the thief who comes to destroy and to kill and to steal?

That's Satan. That's the Antichrist. John chapter 10, it says that of him, it gives that description of him.

But Jesus comes to, not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. For it is the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Luke chapter 19 and verse 30. Well, I must move on to the next point.

If you would turn with me quickly, I'll deal with this one and then I have one more after that in Matthew chapter 19,

Matthew 19. Look with me quickly in Matthew 19 in verse 13.

Then there were brought unto him, unto Jesus, little children that he should put his hands on them and pray. Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?

What a wonderful ministry to bring children to Jesus so that he can put his hands on them and bless them and pray for them.

And the disciples rebuked them. The disciples didn't want these people, parents or whoever, the older folks that were bringing the children to the

Lord Jesus, they rebuked them. They are concerned and focused on other matters.

And they don't want to allow the children to come to Jesus. Imagine, they tried actually to keep someone from coming to the master.

And again, the question comes up, what are they thinking? They didn't think the children mattered much to the

Lord. This ministry is not a priority to them. We got bigger things in store here.

They've got their own agenda. They've got plans to minister in a certain way. And the children are just going to get in the way anyways.

I mean, let's move them off to the side. I mean, these are the men who are called of the

Lord, the disciples who are to be the lights of the world. And I believe that when it comes to this text here, and I won't really spend a whole lot of time because I want to spend the remainder of it at the end, but what does

Jesus say? How does he react to this? You're right, you know, they're just, those little ones,

I mean, you know, it's just going to be messy. They're going to bring their toys and their crayons and their popcorn.

It's just going to be a mess here. You're right, put them off to the side. We're going to deal with just the adults because they're the smart ones.

They're the ones that are always thinking right, right? No, Jesus says, allow the little children.

I mean, can you hear, can you just sense His love,

His mercy and His compassion as He's speaking? Suffer the little children and forbid them not to come unto me for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

He doesn't blast the disciples, but as a father pities his children, the Lord pities them that fear

Him. And He again with this object lesson, so to speak, He just picks up the children.

He allows them to come in. Notice in verse 15, He laid His hands on them and departed this.

He follows through with it because they're precious in His sight. Like the song says, Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.

They are precious in His sight. And I'm just, I'm thankful for those folks at BBC that are invested in the ministry towards children, that love the children, that will spend the time to get the teaching on their level and to be in the nursery and to take care of all of their needs or the preschool or the

Sunday school classes. We ought to be thankful for that and we ought to continue to support them.

We need to be careful when it comes to anybody in our lives, whether they're children or any age, that we don't exclude anybody when it comes to bringing them or having them involved in ministries to where they can be brought to the

Lord. What is important to the Lord needs to be important to us.

And the children were important to Jesus. And any of you children here this morning, this evening, as I was thinking of this message, how encouraging that is to you.

How excited you should be as you read a text like this, that this text is in the Bible, that there were people who were trying to keep children from coming to Jesus and Jesus said, no, let them come.

And they come so close and He's concerned about children and He loves and has mercy upon them and He blesses them and He prays for them.

And with the disciples, no rebuke. He just carries through with it. What longsuffering, the word longsuffering is long fused.

That's what it means. The Lord is patient. It reminds me of the prophet Joel, chapter two, verse 13, turn unto the

Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness.

And that word pity in Psalm 103, verse 13, the Lord pities his children as a father pities his children, the

Lord pities those that fear him. The pity there has the meaning, the root word has the meaning of to fondle and it implies to love and to show mercy and compassion towards.

And the Lord displays pity towards these rough men who he bore with their attitudes, their slowness of heart, as we've already heard, their unwillingness to care for their neighbor and to show love as they should.

And now I need to move on to the last example because the time is, the time is running out. And if you would turn with me back to Luke chapter 22, back to the book of Luke and to chapter 22,

I would say of all the examples that I'm going to cover this evening, I've covered this evening. This is the most inconceivable demonstration of the disciples' selfishness or foolishness or self -centeredness.

And it takes place at the end of the Lord's earthly ministry. And in Luke chapter 22, we have the account of the

Lord's table, the last supper. And he has told them repeatedly before even this time that he will suffer at the hands of men and be killed.

This last meal should have been a sweet time of fellowship with the Lord, a time to cherish every second and to form a lasting memory.

These last moments with the Lord should have been precious. And if at all times they should have been on guard so as not to spoil the occasion.

I'm sure Peter is probably thinking of his tendency, open mouth, insert foot, I'm just not going to do it tonight.

I'm just not going to do it. You ever think that way? I'm just not going to, I'm just not, I'm going to think before I talk and all of a sudden, boom, there it happens to us again.

They should have been serious. Their master is serious. They should have been serious. And he desires to eat in fellowship with them this one last time.

And we see in this chapter, Luke 22 and in verse 13, we get the setting and they went and found as he had said unto them and they made ready the

Passover. And the hour was come and he sat down, verse 14, and the 12 apostles with him.

And he said unto them, with desire of desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. Again, he's telling of his suffering.

For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup and he gave thanks.

Familiar verses, take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come.

And then he took the bread and gave thanks and break it, gave it to them saying, this is my body, which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me.

Likewise, also the cup after the supper saying, the cup is the new Testament in my blood. And behold, the hand of him that betrays me is with me on this table.

And truly the son of man goeth as it was determined, but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed.

And now look at verse 23. And they began to inquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing.

And verse 24, there was also a dispute or a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.

There they go again. What are they thinking? It's inconceivable.

You read this and you think this could not have happened, but it did. The Lord is beginning his journey to the cross.

They should have known better. Their heart should have been set on the master and not on themselves. So dull of understanding, so selfish, so self -exalting, so heartless, so self -centered.

The Lord passes the bread to represent his body, which will be broken. He passes the cup, which will be the new

Testament in his blood. There they are. The Lord is talking about his death in verse 15, his broken body in verse 19.

His blood would be shed in verse 20. And he even reveals that one of them at the table in verse 21 will betray him.

What a time to be sober. What a time to keep quiet and listen to the Lord. But here they are again fussing and fighting about who is going to be considered the greatest in the kingdom.

Right as they are sitting at the table, this is the last supper. They have a strife, a dispute among themselves.

And when I was reading this, I was thinking not only just about them, but about me and my life and about maybe in our church and maybe about you and I and things that have gone on in the church that ought not to have.

I remember when Pastor Mike, I believe, or somebody was teaching out of James chapter 3, he talks about the tongue and it says out of the same mouth or out of the same fountain, you can't have sweet water and bitter water, poisonous water and good water.

When he's talking about the tongue, the way that we speak, he's basically saying don't talk this way. These things ought not to be. And there's other places where the

Apostle Paul says these types of sins, like in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, that immorality, it ought not to be named among the church.

And when it comes to times like this when things are serious and the Lord brings his word to us or maybe we're even at the

Lord's table or maybe we're about to do something and I think even when it comes to worship services and we're getting together to worship

God and there ought to be a proper deportment and a decorum and just a seriousness and a soberness at times in our life or maybe something serious happens in the life of somebody else.

We just don't go off in some weird tangent and start being flippant and light about it.

Or we definitely don't do what the disciples did here is they began playing

King of the Hill at the time when the Lord is revealing all these serious things. I wrote in my notes, oh

God help us and he will for as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear him.

And I guess if there is any time when I could understand that the Lord would be justified in getting rid of this bunch of losers it would be here in this text here.

I mean it's at the very end. He has endured all of it up to this point. And as I prepared this message

I grieved for the disciples but I grieved more for myself. I know that there are times when

I've displeased my Lord at times when things were serious, when things ought to have been in a different way or I should have been thinking differently.

And yet I am so thankful that the Lord in his tender mercy just doesn't write us off.

In our business and many other businesses they have financial write -offs. They can't get the money and they just write it off.

That's it. Forget about it. And that's not the intent. That's not the way that the Lord dealt with them.

He just didn't write them off. Hearing and knowing what

Jesus said should have sobered them up and caused them to be vigilant and careful. And brethren, knowing all that we know about the

Lord and knowing all that we know about Jesus' death and burial and resurrection and knowing what we know about the church and evangelism and lost souls perishing around us and the need for us to hold the standard high and to be a good testimony of Jesus Christ in the dark day in which we live should cause us to wake up and to focus and to be careful and not to be more than anything not to be lifted up in pride and wondering who's the best and who is going to be exalted.

Jesus could have said, okay, that's it. I have put up with you for three years. You're so faithless, so slow of understanding, so full of pride, so harsh, so bigoted, so heartless, so uncaring, so out of touch with what

I am all about, so selfish. And now you have this strife about being greatest. That's the last straw.

But oh, thanks be to God. And I believe that's why the psalmist in Psalm 103 could say, bless the

Lord, oh my soul and all that is within me, bless His holy name, because He does not deal with us as we should be dealt with.

He does not stay angry with us forever. He does not strive with us, but He's slow to anger.

And He is full of compassion and of great kindness. He could have said this is the last straw, but I'm thankful, and aren't you, that there are no last straws when it comes to the people of God.

Now those outside of Christ, the day of grace, the window of mercy will shut closed as sure as the door in the ark shut closed and no one else would be saved.

That was it. It was over. There were no more entrance. And one day at a point in time, God is going to close the window of grace, no more opportunities to be saved.

We don't know when that time is, but for the people of God, for God's children, with all of our sin, with all of our waywardness, and with all of our propensities to think of ourselves and to exalt ourselves, and you know what

I mean, we like to toot our own horn sometimes. Look at me. Look at all that I've done.

And yet there's no last straws when God deals with His children. Now there are differences of opinion, because I've got to get to what did

Jesus do at this point. When they exalted, they're having this strife among themselves.

Jesus does say here in verse 26, he that is greatest among you, let him be the younger and he that is chief as he that doth serve as he did before.

Verse 27, for whether is greater he that sitteth at meat or he that serveth is not he that sitteth at meat, but I am among you as one that serves by his example.

And I believe in this, you may never see this, but if I could ever write the

DJC, the Dave Jeffries commentary, this would come out. This is how

I believe that took place, because it's not in the account of Luke. But if you'll remember in the account of John, chapter 13, and we don't have to turn there, that something happened.

Jesus did not rebuke them sharply. Do you remember what he did at the table? He gets up from off the table and disrobes and puts the towel around him.

And he gets a basin of water and he kneels in front of the disciples. And he washes their, he's going to wash them and he's going to wipe them with the towel that's around them.

And he says, the servant is not greater than his master. What I have done to you, you do. And he gives them an example of how it is that they're to treat each other.

Stop this fighting. Stop this disputing about who's going to be the best. And love one another as I have loved you.

Humble yourself. If you want to be great in God's kingdom, learn to be the what? The servant of all.

And the Lord does that with that example. And you can read that account in John, chapter 13. But it doesn't end there. I mean, the

Lord is so tender, so pitiful. What a wonderful Savior we have. But they leave here and they go to the garden.

And you remember, he takes the strongest with him, Peter. And who? Boanerges, the sons of thunder,

James and John. They're going to make it. And he says, watch with me one hour.

Watch and pray with me. And they fall asleep and Jesus goes back to them once, twice.

And on the third time, they're asleep. And what does he do? Does he take out the pots and pans and start banging them?

You, you guys are so weak. You're supposed to be the sons of thunder.

But no, if you remember the count, he says, sleep on now, take your rest.

They fail the Lord over and over again. They, they all of them eventually forsake him at the end there.

You remember Peter denies him even after this account three times. And you remember that Jesus doesn't say, that's it,

Peter, you are definitely out of this group. You're no longer the core. You're no longer the leader here. There's no anger, no malice, no revenge.

Jesus looks at Peter with those tender eyes of mercy and forgiveness.

And Peter goes out and weeps bitterly and becomes a changed man. You remember even in the count after the resurrection.

I don't know if you ever, in John chapter 20, what did the disciples do? They went back fishing.

They don't even know what to do. The Lord's dead, buried. They haven't got a clue. I mean, what are they thinking that he, he told them what to do.

He told them what they were all about, that they would be fishers of men. That's why he called them to himself and they go back to fish and fish.

That's what he had called them out of. And what does Jesus do? Does he bring a storm? I mean, just a good you're

Rockwood. And I mean, just, and just turns that ship over dumps out whatever's in there and just make some gas.

No, he's on the shore and he's got a little fire going and he's cooking some fish and he calls out to them in the ship.

I don't remember this. I have a guy, a great friend of ours preached this and this was his take on it.

He says, Hey boys, have you caught anything? And of course, through that whole trans firing of the conversation, they know it's the

Lord and they come into the shore. And he says, come and dine. So tender. I mean, every right, just to, just to let out both barrels and let them have it.

But as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear him.

And for us, don't we need to one first see ourselves as the

Lord sees us. Don't put more on yourself, of course, than what the Lord puts on you.

We heard a great, great teaching this morning in Sunday school about doing, about obeying the

Lord, not to be saved, but because we're saved to please the Lord, because he's already been pleased with us and accepted us in Jesus Christ and to please the

Lord. But, you know, don't go beyond what the Lord puts upon you. Don't have to get an

A plus in everything. I had somebody at work who didn't get consistently exceeds a performance expectations in every category.

Not all those boxes were checked. And this person was devastated after six months of working at the company.

I mean, there are people who've been working there for years and they've never gotten all of those boxes checked. But this person,

I mean, is driven by perfection. And in your Christian life, when we're responsible and when we have failed in the way of the

Lord, and when we don't do as he has called us to do, when we're not walking in the way of the Lord, remember this, we're not taken as the children of God and made orphans.

We're always his children through faith in Jesus Christ, eternally secure in eternal salvation.

And God deals with us as his children. And then secondly, we need to treat others as the

Lord treats us. And we've seen that as we've come, as we've looked at these tonight. Even when they're slow to believe or harsh or prideful, and we ought to love our neighbor as ourself and not ever get to a place where we're vindictive and we give up hope on people.

And we also need to learn to humble ourselves, don't we? And we also need to know appropriate deportment behavior at certain times, in certain circumstances.

And then lastly, our Lord who is perfect can bear with us who are imperfect.

And I like that. The Lord who is perfect can bear with us those who are imperfect.

And after forgiving us, and after having tender mercy upon us, he uses us as his choice instruments.

Aren't you glad that even in our lives, when we act like the disciples acted here as we've read in some of these instances, aren't you glad that we can look back at a verse like Psalm 103, verse 13, and we can say, yes, and I've done it myself, and I've seen some of the parents here, your child is hurt, your child falls down crying, and a father will come and pick up that child and have compassion upon them.

Or maybe they've gone astray, gone the wrong way, and in compassion they put him back in the right way.

But as a father, an earthly father would do that, so our Heavenly Father does that for us.

And it's not just once, it's not just twice, but it says in Psalm 103, they will not be angry with us forever, always.

He is quick to forgive and ready to receive when we confess and turn from our sin and turn to him.

And he has pity upon us just like a humanly father would. Isn't the Lord good? What a wonderful Savior we have.

Let's pray. Father, we bless your name. We thank you for these scriptures that we've looked at.

We thank you for the Word of God which is able to build us up. These examples particularly that we had here of the

Lord's dealings with his disciples, and in a great way we can relate to this because we do and think and act sometimes in the very same way.

And we're so grateful that you're ready to forgive, and that you are tender and compassionate, and that you do not write us off, and that you keep instructing us.

The Holy Spirit comes and brings us the Word of God that we need as we're reading. Maybe we're just so discouraged and we're so slow of heart to believe and depressed, and yet we read the

Word of God and our hearts are warmed again, once again, so that we'll get back on the saddle and back on your way.

Thank you for this. Thank you for the week that's ahead of us. Please remember us, strengthen us, and go before us.

And as we trust in you and we lean upon you, upon your understanding and not our own, we're thankful that you will straight cut the path before us, and that you will help us and give us strength day by day.

We thank you and praise you. And we ask your blessings upon us and on this week. In Jesus' name,