Take a Look into the Heart of God
Matthew 14:13-14
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - Nov. 2, 2008
*There have been amazing advances in technology in our lifetime. MRI’s allow doctors to look inside our bodies in a way that would have boggled the mind 100 years ago. It boggles my mind today! It is amazing that MRI’s can look into our bodies. But here’s something much more amazing: Through the pages of His Word, we can look into the heart of God! -- And what a big-hearted God we have!
1. The first thing we see about Him tonight is that He grieves over cruelty and injustice.
*Vs. 13 points us to this truth, when it says, “When Jesus heard it.” (When Jesus heard the report of John the Baptist’s murder), “He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself.”
*The Lord had several good reasons for getting away by Himself. One reason must have been the Lord’s grief over the terrible injustice suffered by John the Baptist. The Lord places a high value on kindness and justice. John the Baptist had been cruelly murdered by a corrupt ruler, who went along with his scheming, vengeful wife.
*But the Lord places a high value on kindness and justice. Psalm 117:1-2 speaks of His kindness:
1. Oh, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples!
2. For His merciful kindness is great toward us, And the truth of the Lord endures forever.
*Many Scriptures speak to us about the Lord’s love for justice. Here are just a couple of examples: In Psalm 33:5, the Lord “loves righteousness and justice.” In Psalm 82:3 He commands: “Defend the poor and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and needy.”
*The Lord places a high value on kindness and justice. We see a great demonstration of this truth in Mark 3. Jesus went into a synagogue where there was a man who had a withered hand. Some self-righteous Pharisees were there, and they watched Jesus to see if He would heal the sick man on the Sabbath. Then in vs. 3-5:
3. Jesus said to the man who had the withered hand, "Step forward.’’
4. And He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?’’ But they kept silent.
5. So when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand.’’ And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.
2. What a big-hearted God we have! He grieves over cruelty and injustice. And He takes care of His followers.
*Jesus always takes care of His followers. This is another reason why the Lord got away in vs. 13. But we have to look at Mark’s Gospel to see this part of the story. Just before John the Baptist’s disciples came to tell Jesus about John’s death, Jesus had sent out His own disciples to preach the gospel and heal the sick. *Mark 6 tells us that:
12. They went out and preached that people should repent.
13. And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.
*Later on in Mark 6 we read:
30. Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught.
31. And He said to them, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.’’ For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.
32. So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves.
*At about the same time John’s followers brought Jesus the news of John’s death, the Lord’s disciples returned with the good news from their ministry. The Lord’s disciples were tired and needed a break. On top of that they must have also been grieved over the death of John the Baptist. (John 1 tells us that Andrew and another of the twelve were followers of John the Baptist before they met Jesus. In fact, John the Baptist had first introduced these men to the Lord. So naturally they would have been saddened at the Baptist’s death.) For these good reasons the Lord wanted to give His disciples a time of rest and refreshment.
*Jesus wants to do the same thing for you. As He said in Matt 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
*Christopher Nerreau once compared it to his son, saying, “The other day I saw my son Matthew outside playing. He has cerebral palsy and is slightly handicapped physically. Matthew grows tired when he plays too hard. And I could see this was happening. He wanted to keep playing with the other kids. He wanted to continue to please his friends. -- But I could tell he was burnt out.
*I called Matthew in and just held him for a while. I gave him a banana and some juice. I just loved him and held him. After about a half hour, he was ready to go back out and play.”
*And this dad asks, “Maybe that is you today? Handicapped by sin and tired. You want to keep up with Bible study, prayer, praise, fellowship, evangelism. Yet you are so tired. The Lord recognizes it and He is calling you: ‘Come to Me.’” (1)
*The Savior wants to give you rest -- Physical rest, emotional rest, eternal rest, every kind of rest you will ever need.
3. What a big-hearted God we have! He takes care of His followers. And He has compassion for people in need. Hurting people, hungry people, lost people -- Jesus has compassion on them.
*We see a sample of His compassion in vs. 13-14:
13. When Jesus heard (about John the Baptist’s death), He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities.
14. And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.
*Next time we will have a lot more to say about this as we see the Lord miraculously fed thousands of people. But tonight I just want to remind you of the compassion of our God. The Lord is filled with compassion for people who are broken, lost and hurting. We see this time after time in His Word. But we especially see His compassion in the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus suffered measureless pain and death, so that our sins could be forgiven, and He could have righteous compassion on us all.
*Most of us have used Colgate products over the years. That business empire was founded by Samuel Colgate, who was a devoted Christian. During an evangelistic service at Colgate’s church, an invitation was given for all those who wished to turn their lives over to Christ and be forgiven. One of the first people to walk the aisle was a well-known prostitute. She knelt in very real repentance, she wept and she asked God to forgive her. Then she stood and testified that she believed God had forgiven her for her past life, and she now wanted to become a member of the church.
*For a few moments, the silence was deafening. Finally, Samuel Colgate rose and said, “I guess we blundered when we prayed that the Lord would save sinners. We forgot to specify what kind of sinners. We’d better ask him to forgive us for this oversight. The Holy Spirit has touched this woman and made her truly repentant, but the Lord apparently doesn’t understand that she’s not the type we want him to rescue. We’d better spell it out for him just which sinners we had in mind.”
*Immediately, a motion was made and unanimously approved that the woman be accepted into the church. (2)
*Samuel Colgate helped those people look into the heart of God. They saw the Lord’s big heart, full of love and compassion. God wants us to look into His heart tonight, so that we will trust Him more, and help others to trust Him too. Think about that as we go to God in prayer.
(1) Adapted from SermonCentral sermon “Rest for the Weary” by Christopher Nerreau - Matt 11:28-30
(2) SermonCentral illustration (Larry R. Kalajainen, Extraordinary Faith For Ordinary Time, CSS Publishing Company, Inc, 1994.)
