God Wants Us To Live Like Jesus Lived! Series

God Wants Us to Live Like Jesus Lived!

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 9:35-38

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - Feb. 19, 2017

(Revised November 29, 2021)

MESSAGE:

*There will always be a family resemblance. "Like Father, like Son," we used to say, or "He's a chip off the old block." And I am not just talking about our physical appearance. I'm talking about the way we talk, our mannerisms, our quirks, habits, and attitudes.

*What's true about our earthly families is also true about God's Heavenly family: There will be a family resemblance. That's because saved people are born again into God's family by God's Holy Spirit. The Lord explained this truth to Nicodemus in John 3:3-6. There:

3. Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.''

4. Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?''

5. Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

*"You must be born again," Jesus said. The reason why is because physical birth can only give physical life. Horses produce horses. Dogs produce dogs. And mortal people produce mortal people. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh."

*But "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." In other words, "That which is given birth by God's Holy Spirit is spirit. The Holy Spirit produces a new kind of person through a new kind of birth. It is God's spiritual birth that gives us His eternal life.

*When we are born again, we get a brand-new nature, so we can, and we should begin to resemble our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, both with our hearts, and our hands, with our attitudes, and our actions.

*On the night before He died on the cross for our sins, Jesus washed His disciples' feet. John 13:12-15 tells us that then Jesus sat down and said:

12. . . "Do you know what I have done to you?

13. You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.

14. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

15. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you."

*Just a few moments later, Jesus said:

34. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

35. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.''

*God wants us love like Jesus loves and live like Jesus lived here on earth.

1. IN TODAY'S SCRIPTURE THIS MEANS WE SHOULD SEE WHAT JESUS SEES.

*God wants us to see like our Savior saw in vs. 35-37:

35. Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

36. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.

37. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few."

*Jesus saw the multitudes, but what did He really see? -- In vs. 35, He saw hurting people, people who needed help, people who needed Him. Then in vs. 36, Jesus saw people who were "weary" or "fainted" in the KJV. They were weary, exhausted, worn out and despondent. The root-word picture is something melting or dissolving.

*In vs. 36, Jesus also saw people scattered, like sheep without a shepherd. The word picture for "scattered" is sudden motion. It's talking about people suddenly tossed around and thrown to the ground by a heartless and powerful enemy.

*One author said: "Jesus saw people led in all the wrong directions by blind guides . . . Jesus saw people without Him, sheep without a shepherd, people with no protection from the powers of hell, people with no protection, and no real direction in life." (1)

*What did Jesus see? -- In vs. 37, Jesus saw people as a great harvest. Brett Blair explained that this great harvest is made up of "men, women and children of every age and nation. These people are the most important fruit of the earth, and someone is eventually going to reap this harvest.

*To put it in the simplest terms, people are going to be won either for good or for evil. They are going to live in darkness, or they are going to be brought to the light. They will come to see the greatness of living with God, or they will live under the reign of the devil.