Compiled by: Herman Abrahams (Senior Minister), Cornerstone Faith Ministries, P.O. Box 740, Westridge 7802, Rep. of South Africa.
E-Mail: mentorship2003@yahoo.co.uk
Note to the reader:
If you have been blessed with this sermon compilation, I would be honoured to receive an e-mail from you simply stating where in the world you are based; I do not need any other information. This is merely so that I can have the pleasure of giving thanks to Almighty God that all over the globe, the ministry which he has entrusted to me, is blessing the body of Christ and helping to extend the Kingdom of God.
Thank you.
Herman Abrahams, Cape Town, South Africa.
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N.B. The message appears to be quite long simply because I’ve added the various devotional commentaries to help the preacher’s meditation on the scriptures provided.
COMPASSION OF GOD
INTRODUCTION
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Compassion: is the inward urging to reach out in love to those around us who are in need.
To Have Pity,
To Have Mercy,
To Have Bowels That Are Yearning.
The opposite: is indifference, lack of concern.
God’s Compassion - DEFINITION
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‘The most common verb used in the Greek New Testament to refer to God’s compassion is splanchnizomai. This verb is used twelve times. Once it is used of the Samaritan’s compassion for the wounded man (Luke 10:33). The other eleven uses refer to God’s compassion. In two separate parables Jesus uses this verb to refer to God’s compassion in saving and forgiving sinners (Matt. 18:27 and Luke 15:20). The remainder of the uses of this verb all refer to compassion as the major motivation for Jesus’ healing and miracles. So in nine out of eleven occurrences where this verb is used of God’s compassion it refers to the compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ as his motivation for healing! What is the meaning of splanchnizomai when it refers to God’s compassion? The nominal form of this word originally referred to the inner parts of a man, the heart, liver, and so on. It could be used of the inward parts of a sacrificial animal, but it became common to use this word in reference to the lower parts of the abdomen, the intestines, and especially the womb’ (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, eds. Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1971] 7:548).
‘Some theologians have felt that this term was too rough or graphic to be used in reference to God’s compassion. Using the word for “intestines” to refer to God’s compassion is akin to our using the word “guts” for courage in modern English, as when we say, “He really has guts.” However, I think the New Testament writers meant to do exactly this. They were impressing on the readers the power and the force of God’s compassion. They may also have had in mind a physical feeling associated with compassion. Sometimes a sharp pain in the abdomen will accompany intense feelings of compassion or pity for those we love. The choice of such a graphic word served to impress the New Testament Christians that God’s compassion for them was rooted in his deep love for them and his sensitivity to their pain.’ [Surprised by the Power of the Spirit, by Jack Deere (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1993), pp. 279-280.
A. GOD’S COMPASSION IN THE O.T.
1. COMPASSION TO REMAIN FAITHFUL TO US
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Lamentations 3:21-25
La 3:21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.
22 Because of the LORD’S great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
La 3:24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
La 3:25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
(From MATTHEW HENRY’s WHOLE BIBLE COMMENTARY):
Lamentations 3:21-36
Had it not been for the hope we have in the Lord, our hearts would break. To save the heart from being quite broken, here is something called to mind, which gives ground for hope (La 3:21). The psalmist recalls the beautiful attributes of the Lord, the Holy Spirit reminding him.
“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.”
Let us see what these things are which he calls to mind.
I. That, bad as things are, it is owing to the mercy of God that they are not worse. We are afflicted by the rod of his wrath, but it is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, La 3:22. When we are in distress we should, for the encouragement of our faith and hope, observe what makes for us as well as what makes against us. Things are bad but they might have been worse, and therefore there is hope that they may be better. Observe here,
1. The streams of mercy acknowledged: We are not consumed. Note, The church of God is like Moses’s bush, burning, yet not consumed; whatever hardships it has met with, or may meet with, it shall have a being in the world to the end of time. It is persecuted of men, but not forsaken of God, and therefore, though it is cast down, it is not destroyed (2Co 4:9), corrected, yet not consumed, refined in the furnace as silver, but not consumed as dross.
2. These streams followed up to the fountain: It is of the Lord’s mercies. here are mercies in the plural number, denoting the abundance and variety of those mercies. God is an inexhaustible fountain of mercy, the Father of mercies. Note, We all owe it to the sparing mercy of God that we are not consumed. Others have been consumed round about us, and we ourselves have been in the consuming, and yet we are not consumed; we are out of the grave; we are out of hell. Had we been dealt with according to our sins, we should have been consumed long ago; but we have been dealt with according to God’s mercies, and we are bound to acknowledge it to his praise.
II. That even in the depth of their affliction they still have experience of the tenderness of the divine pity and the truth of the divine promise. They had several times complained that God had not pitied (La 2:17,21), but here they correct themselves, and own,
1. That God’s compassions fail not; they do not really fail, no, not even when in anger he seems to have shut up his tender mercies. These rivers of mercy run fully and constantly, but never run dry. No; they are new every morning; every morning we have fresh instances of God’s compassion towards us; he visits us with them every morning (Job 7:18); every morning does he bring his judgment to light, Zep 3:5. When our comforts fail, yet God’s compassions do not.
2. That great is his faithfulness. Though the covenant seemed to be broken, they owned that it still continued in full force; and, though Jerusalem be in ruins, the truth of the Lord endures for ever. Note, Whatever hard things we suffer, we must never entertain any hard thoughts of God, but must still be ready to own that he is both kind and faithful.
2. COMPASSION TO RENEW YOUR STRENGTH
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Psalm 86:14-17
Ps 86:14 The arrogant are attacking me, O God; a band of ruthless men seeks my life— men without regard for you.
Ps 86:15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
Ps 86:16 Turn to me and have mercy on me; grant your strength to your servant and save the son of your maidservant.
Ps 86:17 Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
(From: MATTHEW HENRY’S WHOLE BIBLE COMMENTARY):
4. As a being infinitely good. Man is bad, very wicked and vile (Ps 86:14); no mercy is to be expected from him; but thou, O Lord! art a God full of compassion, and gracious, Ps 86:15. This is that attribute by which he proclaims his name, and by which we are therefore to proclaim it, Ex 34:6-7. It is his goodness that is over all his works, and therefore should fill all our praises; and this is our comfort, in reference to the wickedness of the world we live in, that, however it be, God is good. Men are barbarous, but God is gracious; men are false, but God is faithful. God is not only compassionate, but full of compassion, and in him mercy rejoiceth against judgment. He is long suffering towards us, though we forfeit his favour and provoke him to anger, and he is plenteous in mercy and truth, as faithful in performing as he was free in promising.
5. As a kind friend and bountiful benefactor to him. We ought to praise God as good in himself, but we do it most feelingly when we observe how good he has been to us. This therefore the psalmist dwells upon with most pleasure, Ps 86:12-13. He had said (Ps 86:9), All nations shall praise thee, O Lord! and glorify thy name. It is some satisfaction to a good man to think that others shall praise and glorify God, but it is his greatest care and pleasure to do it himself.
"Whatever others do" (says David), "I will praise thee, O Lord my God! not only as the Lord, but as my God; and I will do it with all my heart; I will be ready to do it and cordial in it; I will do it with cheerfulness and liveliness, with a sincere regard to thy honour; for I will glorify thy name, not for a time, but for evermore. I will do it as long as I live, and hope to be doing it to eternity."
With good reason does he resolve to be thus particular in praising God, because God had shown him particular favours: For great is thy mercy towards me. The fountain of mercy is inexhaustibly full; the streams of mercy are inestimably rich. When we speak of God’s mercy to us, it becomes us thus to magnify it: Great is thy mercy towards me. Of the greatness of God’s mercy he gives this instance, Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell, from death, from so great a death, as Paul (2Co 1:10), from eternal death, so even some of the Jewish writers understand it. David knew he deserved to be cast off for ever into the lowest hell for his sin in the matter of Uriah; but Nathan assured him that the Lord had taken away his sin, and by that word he was delivered from the lowest hell, and herein God’s mercy was great towards him. Even the best saints owe it, not to their own merit, but to the mercy of God, that they are saved from the lowest hell; and the consideration of that should greatly enlarge their hearts in praising the mercy of God, which they are obliged to glorify for evermore. So glorious; so gracious, a rescue from everlasting misery, justly requires the return of everlasting praise.
3. COMPASSION TO BRING US BACK
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Isiah 54:7-8,10
Isa 54:7 “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
Isa 54:8 In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness
I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer.
Isa 54:10 Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you
(From: MATTHEW HENRY’S WHOLE BIBLE COMMENTARY):
2. How sweet the returns of mercy would be to them when God should come and comfort them according to the time that he had afflicted them. God called them into covenant with himself when they were forsaken and grieved; he called them out of their afflictions when they were most pressing, Isa 54:6. God’s anger endures for a moment, but he will gather his people when they think themselves neglected, will gather them out of their dispersions, that they may return in a body to their own land,--will gather them into his arms, to protect them, embrace them, and bear them up,--and will gather them at last to himself, will gather the wheat into the barn. He will have mercy on them. This supposes the turning away of his anger and the admitting of them again into his favour. God’s gathering his people takes rise from his mercy, not any merit of others; and it is with great mercies (Isa 54:7), with everlasting kindness, Isa 54:8. The wrath is little, but the mercies are great; the wrath is for a moment, but the kindness everlasting. See how one is set over against the other, that we may neither despond under our afflictions nor despair of relief.
2. It is more firm than the strongest parts of the visible creation (Isa 54:10): The mountains shall depart, which are called everlasting mountains, and the hills be removed, though they are called perpetual hills, Hab 3:6. Sooner shall they remove than God’s covenant with his people be broken. Mountains have sometimes been shaken by earthquakes, and removed; but the promises of God were never broken by the shock of any event. The day will come when all the mountains shall depart and all the hills be removed, not only the tops of them covered, as they were by the waters of Noah, but the roots of them torn up; for the earth and all the works that are therein shall be burned up; but then the covenant of peace between God and believers shall continue in the everlasting bliss of all those who are the children of that covenant. Mountains and hills signify great men, men of bulk and figure. Do these mountains seem to support the skies (as Atlas) and bear them up? They shall depart and be removed. Creature- confidences shall fail us. In vain is salvation hoped for from those hills and mountains. But the firmament is firm, and answers to its name, when those who seem to prop it are gone. When our friends fail us our God does not, nor does his kindness depart? Do these mountains threaten, and seem to top the skies, and bid defiance to them, as Pelion and Ossa? Do the kings of the earth, and the rulers, set themselves against the Lord? They shall depart and be removed. Great mountains, that stand in the way of the salvation of the church, shall be made plain (Zec 4:7); but God’s kindness shall never depart from his people, for whom he loves he loves to the end; nor shall the covenant of his peace ever be removed, for he is the Lord that has mercy on his people. Therefore the covenant is immovable and inviolable, because it is built not on our merit, which is a mutable uncertain thing, but on God’s mercy, which is from everlasting to everlasting.
4. COMPASSION TO FORGIVE US – He delights to show mercy.
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Micah 7:19
Mic 7:18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.
Mic 7:19 You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
Mic 7:20 You will be true to Jacob, and show mercy to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our fathers in days long ago
(From ADAM CLARKE):
Micah 7:18
Verse 18. Who is a God like unto thee, &c.] Here is a challenge to all idol worshippers, and to all those who take false views of the true God, to show his like. See his characters; they are immediately subjoined.
1. He pardoneth iniquity. This is the prerogative of God alone; of that Being who alone has power to save or to destroy.
2. He passeth by transgression. He can heal backsliding, and restore them that are fallen.
3. He retaineth not his anger forever. Though, justly displeased because of sin, he pours out his judgments upon the wicked; yet when they return to him, he shows "that he retaineth not his anger forever," but is indescribably ready to save them.
4. He delighteth in mercy. Judgment is his strange work: he is ever more ready to save than to destroy. Nothing can please him better than having the opportunity, from the return and repentance of the sinner, to show him that mercy without which he must perish everlastingly.
5. Because he is such a God-1. "He will turn again." His face has been long turned from us, because of our sins. 2. "He will have compassion upon us" pity our state, and feel for our sorrows. 3. "He will subdue our iniquities." Though they have been mighty, he will bring them down, and bruise them under our feet. 4. "He will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." Will fully pardon them, and never more remember them against us. Instead of Mtajx chattotham, THEIR sins, five MSS. of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s, with the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, and Arabic read wnytajx chattotheynu, OUR sins. He will plunge them into eternal oblivion, never more to come into sight or remembrance; like a stone dropped into the "depths of the sea."
B. GOD’S COMPASSION IN THE N.T.
5. COMPASSION TO SAVE US
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The Parable of the Lost Sheep
Lk 15:1 Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him.
Lk 15:2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Lk 15:3 Then Jesus told them this parable:
Lk 15:4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? Lk 15:5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders. Lk 15:6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ Lk 15:7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
(From: MATTHEW HENRY’S WHOLE BIBLE COMMENTARY):
(2.) The care the God of heaven takes of poor wandering sinners. He continues his care of the sheep that did not go astray; they are safe in the wilderness. But there is a particular care to be taken of this lost sheep; and though he has a hundred sheep, a considerable flock, yet he will not lose that one, but he goes after it, and shows abundance of care, [1.] In finding it out. He follows it, enquiring after it, and looking about for it, until he finds it. God follows backsliding sinners with the calls of his word and the strivings of his Spirit, until at length they are wrought upon to think of returning. [2.] In bringing it home. Though he finds it weary, and perhaps worried and worn away with its wanderings, and not able to bear being driven home, yet he does not leave it to perish, and say, It is not worth carrying home; but lays it on his shoulders, and, with a great deal of tenderness and labour, brings it to the fold. This is very applicable to the great work of our redemption. Mankind were gone astray, Isa. 53:6. The value of the whole race to God was not so much as that of one sheep to him that had a hundred; what loss would it have been to God if they had all been left to perish? There is a world of holy angels that are as the ninety-nine sheep, a noble flock; yet God sends his Son to seek and save that which was lost, ch. 19:10. Christ is said to gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, denoting his pity and tenderness towards poor sinners; here he is said to bear them upon his shoulders, denoting the power wherewith he supports and bears them up; those can never perish whom he carries upon his shoulders. (3.) The pleasure that God takes in repenting returning sinners. He lays it on his shoulders rejoicing that he has not lost his labour in seeking; and the joy is the greater because he began to be out of hope of finding it; and he calls his friends and neighbours, the shepherds that keep their flocks about him, saying, Rejoice with me.
(Cf Mt 9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd).
Song – “If He Carried The Weight Of The World …”
6. COMPASSION TO LONG FOR US
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Mt 23:37
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,
how often I have longed to gather your children together,
as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,
but you were not willing.
Mt 23:38 Look, your house is left to you desolate.
(From: THE MACARTHUR NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY):
It was never God’s ultimate plan and desire for His people to be punished but for them to return to Him in faithfulness and devotion. "How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings," Jesus lamented. He longed to draw Israel to Himself and protect her just as a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings to protect them from a storm that would batter them or a hawk that would devour them. There was a beautiful intimacy and tenderness in Jesus’ words and no doubt in His voice as He mourned over His people. He had come "to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him" (John 1:11).
David exulted, "How precious is Thy lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Thy wings" (Ps. 36:7). It was God’s great desire that all men, especially His beloved children Israel, would take refuge under His wings. At many times and in many forms Jesus had often given invitations such as, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls" (Matt. 11:28-29).
(From: MATTHEW HENRY’S WHOLE BIBLE COMMENTARY):
Here is, (1.) The wonderful grace and favour of Jesus Christ toward them; How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings! Thus kind and condescending are the offers of gospel grace, even to Jerusalem’s children, bad as she is, the inhabitants, the little ones not excepted. [1.] The favour proposed was the gathering of them. Christ’s design is to gather poor souls, gather them in from their wanderings, gather them home to himself, as the Centre of unity; for to him must the gathering of the people be. He would have taken the whole body of the Jewish nation into the church, and so gathered them all (as the Jews used to speak of proselytes) under the wings of the Divine Majesty. It is here illustrated by a humble similitude; as a hen clucks her chickens together. Christ would have gathered them, First, With such a tenderness of affection as the hen does, which has, by instinct, a peculiar concern for her young ones. Christ’s gathering of souls, comes from his love, Jer. 31:3. Secondly, For the same end. The hen gathered her chickens under her wings, for protection and safety, and for warmth and comfort; poor souls have in Christ both refuge and refreshment. The chickens naturally run to the hen for shelter, when they are threatened by the birds of prey; perhaps Christ refers to that promise (Ps. 91:4), He shall cover thee with his feathers. There is healing under Christ’s wings (Mal. 4:2); that is more than the hen has for her chickens. [2.] The forwardness of Christ to confer this favour. His offers are, First, Very free; I would have done it. Jesus Christ is truly willing to receive and save poor souls that come to him. He desires not their ruin, he delights in their repentance. Secondly, Very frequent; How often! Christ often came up to Jerusalem, preached, and wrought miracles there; and the meaning of all this, was, he would have gathered them. He keeps account how often his calls have been repeated. As often as we have heard the sound of the gospel, as often as we have felt the strivings of the Spirit, so often Christ would have gathered us. [3.] Their wilful refusal of this grace and favour; Ye would not. How emphatically is their obstinacy opposed to Christ’s mercy! I would, and ye would not. He was willing to save them, but they were not willing to be saved by him. Note, It is wholly owing to the wicked wills of sinners, that they are not gathered under the wings of the Lord Jesus. They did not like the terms upon which Christ proposed to gather them; they loved their sins, and yet trusted to their righteousness; they would not submit either to the grace of Christ or to his government, and so the bargain broke off. V. He reads Jerusalem’s doom (v. 38, 39); Therefore behold your house is left unto you desolate.
7. COMPASSION FOR HEALING
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Two Blind Men Receive Sight – Matt 20:29-34
Mt 20:29 As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him.
Mt 20:30 Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
Mt 20:31 The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
Mt 20:32 Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
Mt 20:33 “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.”
Mt 20:34 Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.
(From: THE MACARTHUR NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY):
The men answered Jesus, "Lord, we want our eyes to be opened." After years of blindness their one compelling desire was to see. And moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight. As the Creator of the universe reached out to those men, He suspended the natural laws which He Himself had made. Moved with infinite divine compassion, the Son of Man, who was also the Son of God, bestowed the mercy on the physical needs for which they pleaded.
(From: MATTHEW HENRY’S WHOLE BIBLE COMMENTARY):
3. He cured them; when he encouraged them to seek him, he did not say, Seek in vain. What he did was an instance,
(1.) Of his pity; He had compassion on them. Misery is the object of mercy. They that are poor and blind are wretched and miserable (Re 3:17), and the objects of compassion. It was the tender mercy of our God, that gave light and sight to them that sat in darkness,
Lu 1:78,79. Lk 1:78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven Lk 1:79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death,
We cannot help those that are under such calamities, as Christ did; but we may and must pity them, as Christ did, and draw out our soul to them
CONCLUSION:
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(From Gary Oates - www.GaryOates.com):
Every time Jesus was “moved with compassion” He did something special—He healed! By the same token, when I tap into the Spirit realm through intimacy with God, my heart becomes tender and compassionate toward hurting people. Healing results every time.
How do I develop a compassionate heart toward people? Unquestionably, I believe it is found through times of intimacy with God. The Scriptures are filled with examples of Jesus spending time alone with His Father. It was the source of His power to accomplish the miraculous.
The apostle John offers believers a mind-boggling statement in 1 John 4:17 (NASB) “…as He is, so also are we in this world.”
The implication of this verse is clear—believers should be like Him. That is next to impossible without spending quality time in His manifest Presence. We will never even understand His compassionate nature for a lost and wounded humanity without regular, daily times with Him.
