It is a great blessing to be here with you once again and to see the Lord’s mighty work. Everything He does is mighty, even little things. We were talking this morning about things on the microscopic level that God does. And those things are mighty things as well. And the vast expanse of the universe and the so called little things in hearts and lives, they’re glorious.
Well, let’s open our Bibles to Mark chapter five. We’re actually going to read several passages. Mark chapter five beginning at verse twenty-two.
And one of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up, and upon seeing Him, fell at His feet and entreated Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, that she may get well and live.” And He went off with him; and a great multitude was following Him and pressing in on Him.
And then you have the account of this woman with the issue of blood that intervenes. And starting up again in verse thirty-five:
While He was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?” But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid, only believe.” And He allowed no one to follow with Him, except Peter and James and John the brother of James. And they came to the house of the synagogue official; and He beheld a commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing. And entering in, He said to them, “Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep.” They were laughing at Him. But putting them all out, He took along the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and entered the room where the child was. And taking the child by the hand, He said to her, “Talitha kum!” (which translated means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!”). And immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded. And He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and He said that something should be given her to eat. (Mark 5:35-43)
And then Mark chapter nine verses fourteen and…well, we’ll just read down through here. Mark chapter nine beginning at verse fourteen.
And when they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. And immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed and began running up to greet Him. And He asked them, “What are you discussing with them?” And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. And I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.” And He answered them and said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” And they brought the boy to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling about and foaming at the mouth. And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” And Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father cried out and began saying, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” And when Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.” And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He’s dead!” But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up. And when He came into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately saying, “Why could we not cast it out?” And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.” (Mark 9:14-29)
And then in John chapter four, John chapter four beginning at verse forty-five.
So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast. He came therefore again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and was requesting Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. Jesus, therefore, said to them, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” The royal official said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and he started off. And as he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was living. So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. They said, therefore, to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives “; and he himself believed and his whole household. This is again a second sign that Jesus performed when He had come out of Judea into Galilee. (John 4:45-54)
One more: Matthew chapter fifteen, Matthew fifteen verse twenty-one.
And Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a Canaanite woman came out from that region and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Oh Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came to Him and kept asking Him, saying, “Send her away, for she is shouting out after us.” But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” She came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; be it done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once. (Matthew 15:21-28)
I’ve read all these passages because they have something in common. And that is, that all of them have to do with parents bringing their children to the Lord. And we have, I’m sure, a number of parents here today who have children that need to be brought to the Lord. And we have probably some that are going to have children that they’re already on the way, but they haven’t been born yet. But it’s a relevant subject. And I want to open it up just a little more as we go along.
I could have chosen verses, other verses that talk about in general, people bringing their loved ones to the Lord. And we’re going to look at at least one of them so that you’ll know that if you’re not a parent, this is still for you. But I particularly want to encourage the parents concerning bringing their children to the Lord. And then also, this reality of bringing our loved ones in general to the Lord. And we’ll look at some verses on that as well.
But notice here, the obvious parallels between these cases. In all four of them, we have parents bringing their children to the Lord. And that should be an encouragement to us in itself.
If the Lord had not…think of what it would have been like if He had not given us any examples in Scripture of a parent bringing their child to the Lord. That would have been discouraging! You could press past it. You could say, “Well, I know Jesus is gracious and so on.” But He not only gave us one example, He gave us one example after another.
And we actually have examples of parents bringing their little, their infants even, bringing them to the Lord Jesus. The disciples said, “Don’t bring those infants here. You know, the Master’s too busy for that kind of stuff. He’s got big things on His mind.” And Jesus said, “No. Allow these little children to come unto me and don’t forbid them. You’ve got wrong ideas about the kingdom.” And so He welcomed that and they brought even infants.
Think of what that…think if you were a mother and you had a newborn and you could literally bring that newborn to Jesus and have Him lay His hand…I wonder what He prayed. Because everything He prayed came true, you know. Whatever blessing He placed on them came to pass. And He blessed them. Put His hand on them and blessed them.
And there’s a fifth account, I haven’t read it yet, I want to read it just for some extra encouragement in relation to parents and children.
So, examples in the gospels of parents bringing their children and people bringing their loved ones to the Lord.
A second parallel that we see in these cases- every one of them was an extreme case. It’s like God wants to encourage us as He’s saying, “I don’t care how bad your situation is, I don’t care how impossible the situation is. I am in the business of hearing parents that bring their children to me.”
And if you just think about this, two of these cases the children were demonized. One boy was so bad, it says that he had often been thrown into the fire and into the water to destroy him. In other words, whenever this boy would be around water his parents always had to be watching for fear that the devil was going to kill him. And every time he’s around a fire. You know, here’s the family out here, here’s this boy, it says that it had been happening a long time, the father says since childhood. So you’re not talking about your family sitting around and enjoying the campfire and looking into those hot coals, because the devils going to try to throw your little boy into those coals.
Now think of the pressure upon a family to live with that for years. It had been going on for years. And it was an impossible situation. He says often, in the words of the father, he says, “Whenever it seizes him, it dashes him to the ground and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and stiffens out.” Picture seeing that one time, but they had seen it for years. Impossible situation.
This other Canaanite woman in Matthew 15. We’re not sure how extreme her daughter’s case was, but it says she says, “My daughter is cruelly demon possessed.” She doesn’t just say, “My daughter’s bothered by the devil occasionally.” “She’s cruelly demon possessed.”
So, two extreme cases related to demonic things.
And then these other two cases of children at the very point of death.
They come to Jesus and they say, “My daughter is at the point of death. My little girl’s at the point of death.” I’ve never experienced that before. I know people on the mission field, I’ve read accounts, biographies of missionaries that have lost one child after another. And so here’s your child, they come down with some sickness, you don’t have the proper medicine, and you’re praying and you’re trying to do everything you possibly can to help them. And eventually it begins to dawn on you, “My child, my boy, is going to die. My daughter is going to die.” And that’s the situation that these people were in.
In fact the one girl, while Jesus is coming, they say she died. That’s how close she was when this guy’s going to Jesus in desperation. In the case that we’re going to look at in a little while that I haven’t had you read yet, in that case the child had already died. And the woman wasn’t asking Jesus to raise that child, because there wasn’t any hope. It was an utterly impossible situation.
So in every one of these cases, you have someone bringing their loved one, particularly children, to the Lord. In every case it’s an impossible situation and in every case Jesus has compassion on them and hears them.
Now, beloved, that ought to mean something to you. If you’ve got a loved one that’s in desperate straights, it ought to mean something to you that in every case He had compassion. A great encouragement!
Alright, those are the obvious parallels or surface parallels between these cases. But I want to go a little deeper and look at the things that are common or at least emphasized in these different accounts so that we might be helped by them.
So first of all, in every one of these cases, there was earnest entreaty on the part of the parents in every single one of these cases. There was desperate, earnest entreaty.
In this case of Jairus, it says, “Upon seeing him, he came up and shook his hand and says, ‘Lord, I wish you could possibly do something for my child.’” That wasn’t it, was it? “On seeing him, he falls on the ground and earnestly entreats him, ‘Lord, come. My little girl’s at the point of death. My daughter’s at the point of death. Please come and lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.’”
This demonized boy, this man comes to Jesus, he says, “If you can, if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” And it says, “Immediately the boy’s father cried out and began saying, ‘I do believe, help my unbelief!’” “Take pity on us.”
This royal official, it says, “When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and was requesting Him to come down and heal his son…” Well, that doesn’t sound too extreme, except that he went to Him. It was a seven hour walk that he went to Him.
So, again, this desperation, earnest entreaty. A seven hour walk, requesting Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Jesus begins talking to him, “”Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” It was like he didn’t have time to talk about that. He just cries out, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” He was desperate.
And the Canaanite woman, let me just read some of those to you again. In verse twenty three it says, “His disciples came to Him and kept asking Him saying, ‘Send her away, for she is shouting out.’” She was shouting out. And she was crying, she began to cry out saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David.”
And again, in verse twenty-five, “She began to bow down before Him saying, ‘Lord, help me.’”
So, beloved, we need to be earnestly entreating the Lord on behalf of our children and on behalf of our loved ones. And if you’re a parent who has a lost child, I would encourage you to get with some other parent that is willing to pray with you specifically.
There was a…I mentioned this in…well actually, another brother had told me, he was telling about, he was a pastor in, I think, Michigan and he told me that they were starting to be concerned about one of his sons and he meet with another man in the church who also had a lost son and they began to pray together specifically for those boys. And God intervened and heard their cry. And when that brother told me that, I got to thinking, “You know, what am I doing?”
I mean, we kind of get to kind of coasting along and think, “Well, something will eventually just happen by osmosis.” You don’t know that! And the situation is desperate. And so I mentioned this at prayer meeting and I said, does anybody want to pray with me. Well, there was one brother, he said yes, he’d do it. And so we have been meeting week after week and you don’t spend very long talking. You just get in there, we’re not here to spend hours and hours, we’re here to bring this before the Lord again.
And you say, “Now Lord, here we are. We’re knocking. You said, everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it shall be opened. Lord, I’m back here again. I’m knocking on the door tonight for this person. I’m knocking Lord, we’re here knocking. You see us, we’re here again.”
We’re here again this week and beloved, there’s surely somebody who will meet with you and you can say it, and you can go before the Lord week after week, special prayer for that loved one, whoever they are.
Now, let me say again, it’s not just for parents with children. I want to particularly encourage parents with children. And God brought this to my mind a couple of weeks ago that maybe I ought to share this message here. But it’s more than that. An example, I don’t know if we need to turn to it, but you remember the example in Luke five where those four friends brought that paralyzed man to the Lord. Alright so here’s a case of, this is just friends. There’s a lot of people that are in terrible straights that have four guys that love them, that could carry them to the Lord in prayer.
And you remember those four friends, they bring that man, that paralyzed man to Jesus. And so there’s another example.
So, I would just encourage you in every one of these cases, there was earnest entreaty on the part of those who loved that person and brought them to the Lord, earnestly entreating.
Secondly, in every one of these cases, there was persistence involved, agonizing delays were involved and perseverance was involved and endurance was involved.
Think of Jairus’s daughter. Alright, it said there in that passage in Mark five, it says that they started out. You know, he came Jesus and it’s, things are in a desperate condition and he cries out to Him, he falls at His feet entreating Him earnestly saying, “My little daughter’s at the point of death. Please come.” And it says He went off with him and a great multitude was following Him and pressing in on Him.
Now you know how it was. There was that woman that had had an issue of blood for twelve years and she’s probably crawling through the crowd to get through. She’s weak anyway. And she’s desperate to get to Jesus. And that woman comes and touches the hem of His garment and it says He was aware that power had come out of Him. And He turns and talks to the woman and He said, “Who touched me?” The disciples said, “Lord, there’s people thronging you and pressing and you say ‘Who touched me?’” He said, “No, I’m aware that somebody touched Me. They didn’t just shove Me, they touched Me and power came out.” And so the woman comes and tells her story and all…
Now, think about this. We just read that, but you realize what’s happening? This father comes, his daughter’s at the point of death. It would be like, your child is choking to death, you realize they’re going to die if I don’t get them to the emergency room and you get out and throw them in the car and take out as fast as you can and get in a traffic jam. That’s what happened here. This man’s desperate and Jesus is talking to this woman. And he wants to run, and they can’t run because they’re pressing through a crowd.
And while all this is happening, the guys come from the other side and they say, “Forget it. It’s too late. Don’t bother the teacher anymore. She’s already dead.” Well, he had to persist. And there were delays, agonizing delays.
This demonized boy, the father brought the boy to the disciples… and by the way, the disciples had been given authority to cast out demons and had done it many times. And the father gets there with the boy, and they can’t do anything.
Think of this. The demon throws him into a convulsion and here it is happening right in front of them. And Jesus doesn’t do anything. He starts asking him questions, “How long has this been happening to him?”
See the delays?
This royal official, Jesus starts talking about the unbelief of the people and so on and he just says, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
Delays and persistence.
This Canaanite woman, Matthew chapter fifteen- persistence. You realize this woman, and really we could spend the whole time on this one account, but she starts out… Let me just turn to it and I’ll read some of it to you again. It says, “ Canaanite woman came out from that region and began to cry out, saying, ‘Have mercy on me, Oh Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.’ But,” But what? “He did not answer her a word.”
So, many times, that’s where people stop. You start coming to the Lord, crying out to Him in some area and He’s totally silent.
And she persisted and persisted past His silence. He walks along like He doesn’t even, He can’t hear her. She’s crying out, it says that. She’s screaming, “Have mercy on me! Son of David, have mercy on me!” And she keeps on.
I mean, if I said it two or three times… Now, realistically, really, here’s the Lord Jesus and His disciples and you’re out there making a scene in front of everybody, crying out loud, “Have mercy on me, Son of David!” and He doesn’t turn around and even look at you, He just keeps on walking. It’s like, “Whose that scum out there, you know, calling out for Me?” I mean, that’s the way you’d feel.
And the disciples… she pressed past the Lord’s silence and then she presses past the disciples as the disciples discourage her. And they come to the Lord finally and they say, “She keeps on crying out.” It says, “His disciples came to Him and kept asking Him saying, ‘Send her away for she is shouting out after us.’” They got tired of it. She pressed past the disciples.
So she presses past the Lord’s silence, then she presses past the disciples, who ought to have been encouraging her. You know, “You could get help from Jesus.” They were not encouraging her, they were discouraging her. And then she presses past the Lord’s answer. Because what did the Lord answer her? He says, “I wasn’t sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and you’re not one of them.”
What would you do? Would you turn around at that point? I mean, first of all He ignores you. Then His disciples discourage you. And then Jesus, when He does answer, He says “I wasn’t sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
And she kept on crying out.
Now beloved, here’s the issue. People say, “Well, how do I know if my child is elect? How do I know if this loved one is elect?” Alright, look at this. He specifically says to her, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” It’s almost like the Lord Himself is saying, “I’m sent to the elect and you’re not one of them.”
And what did the woman do? She cried out all the more! In other words, the question is, can you live with the idea of that child or that loved one going to hell? Can you live with that? Can you accept that? Or are you determined, by the grace of God, that you’re going to keep on knocking on that door until He opens the door? That’s the attitude God wants us to have.
You say, “What if they’re non-elect?” I don’t care if they’re elect or not! God is a God who answers prayer. And He has encouraged us to come for that person. He’s compassionate- “‘I have no pleasure in the death of anyone that dies,’ says the Lord.” (Ezekiel 18:32) He said that! That’s enough.
I said, “Lord, you have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, You have no pleasure in the death of that one to die. And I’m knocking again on that door. ”
That’s the attitude of this Syrophenician woman. She would not turn back. She pressed on passed the Lord’s negative answer and then she pressed on past His insults. He said, “It’s not right to take the children’s bread and give it to dogs.”
And what did she do? She barked, basically, is what she did. She says, “That’s right Lord. I am a dog. But even the dogs get the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.”
Alright, in every single case persistence in involved. Earnest entreaty in every single case.
You think of these… you know, again, if you don’t have a lost child or a loved one in that sense, think of some other lost loved one. Maybe some of you young people, it’s your parents that you’re burdened for. Think of those four friends bringing this guy to the Lord, this paralyzed man to the Lord. They persisted. You realize what we read right through that account. It says they came up to the house and the house was full.
So we’ve got a pretty full house here. Picture every one of these walk areas is full, so there’s no where to even walk.
And there’s a crowd standing outside the door and they arrive with their friend. “Well, it’s not going to work today, we may as well go back home. We’re not going to get around Jesus today.” Is that what they said? They would not be turned back.
And so what they did, they got up on the roof and you know how those houses were made with flat roofs and they had tile and you could tear the tile off. It says they lowered him through the roof. Well, we just read that and don’t think about what that means.
But think of what it would be like, while I’m standing here, is somebody was tearing a hole in the roof and dirt and straw and everything’s falling down and here this guy starts coming down on ropes out of the ceiling. It’s kind of distracting to a preacher!
And they did not care. They didn’t care how much the Lord was distracted. They wanted to get that friend to Jesus. See that? They persisted.
They said, “Look, there’s too big of a crowd, there’s nothing we can do. We’ll just tear a hole in the roof and get him down there.” They are not going to stop! There was a desperation on behalf of their loved one and a persistence.
And that brings me to the third point. In every one of these cases, faith was involved, faith is involved.
Think of Jairus. Jesus overhears what’s being spoken, He says, “Don’t be afraid just believe.” You see, He’s emphasizing that. Just believe. And he says, “Lord,” it’s the demonized boy that says, “Lord, I believe”. Let me read that. Same emphasis in Mark nine.
Mark 9:19, “And He answered them and said, ‘Oh unbelieving generation! How long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you?” And then the father says in verse twenty-two, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” And Jesus said, “All things are possible to him who believes.” Amazing statement! All things are possible! And the boy’s father cries out and begins saying, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”
So, see the emphasis here? Almost an open ended thing. “All things are possible to him who believes.”
A little bit later in Mark he says, “Therefore, I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them and they shall be granted you.”(Mark 11:24)
This is beyond us, isn’t it? But it’s an emphasis of Jesus to believe.
This royal official, you remember He says, “Unless you people see signs and wonders you will not believe.” You see the same kind of problem.
And after the boy’s healed…let me just read it to you, I can’t quote it, that passage that we looked at in John four. After he’s healed, it says, “The man,”… well, first of all, He says, “‘Go your way, your son lives.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he started off.” So he believed. And then he meets the servants coming and it says, “The father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son lives’ and he himself believed and his whole household.” So, an emphasis on believing.
You get to this Syrophenician woman, this Canaanite woman, same thing. He says, “Oh woman, great is your faith! Be it done to you as you wish.” You see this? Emphasis on believing God.
Now, you come to God and you just squint your eyes really hard and you just believe Him and that’s all you’ve got to do. But it doesn’t work like that, does it? We’re not able to believe. And we need to ask God to give us, to do something in us, so that we’d be able to enter into some of this reality.
And you just have to come to God and say, “Lord, I don’t know how to do this. But I want to believe, I want to enter into what You’re saying in these amazing promises that are in Your Word.”
Listen to what Jesus said, “All things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.” (Mark 11:24) It’s that amazing!? Over and over this emphasis on putting our faith in Him!
And they get there and there’s this demonized boy that’s been thrown into the fire and the water, it’s a terrible case. And Jesus doesn’t come up to the disciples and say, “Oh, I understand. It really is a great feed when you believe God. It’s really something when you believe God.”
That’s our attitude. That’s what we think. We think it’s some big deal when we believe God.
Jesus come up to those disciples and He says, “Oh unbelieving…what kind of perverted generation! What is this?!” You see, we’ve got to have our minds renewed to realize that unbelief is not normal, it’s wicked! And faith is the normal thing that ought to be and it’s unbelievable how unbelieving we are! That’s the mindset of the Bible.
Now, in every one of these cases, earnest entreaty. In every one of these cases, perseverance over a long run. And in every one of these cases, faith.
Now I want to read to you the fifth one that I didn’t read before and you may want to turn to that. Luke chapter seven. And I read this just for encouragement. Luke chapter seven, verse eleven.
Luke chapter seven, verse eleven, “It came about soon afterwards that he went to a city called Nain; and his disciples were going along with him accompanied by a large multitude. Now as he approached the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her. And when the Lord saw the corps, he felt compassion.” Is that what it says? “When the Lord saw her.” She’s a widow. Her husband has died, this is her only son.
“When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, and said to her, “Do not weep.” And He came up and touched the coffin;” or stretcher, really coffin is a bad word. I mean, it doesn’t capture what it was. They were carrying him on a stretcher.
He went up and touched the stretcher, “and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, arise!’ And the dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.” Gave him back to his mother. “And fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!’ and, ‘God has visited His people!’ And this report concerning Him went out all over Judea and in all the surrounding district.” (Luke 7:11-17)
Now, I read this by itself because this woman was not asking for help, it was already too late to ask for help. And that’s maybe even more encouraging, because we’re told why Jesus raised this child from the dead. And the reason is, He felt compassion for her. Verse thirteen, “When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion, He felt compassion for her.”
And that brings me to the fourth point. And that is, in every one of these cases, the Lord Jesus had compassion and He had it on the parents.
Now, think of this. Here’s Jairus, his daughter has died, He says, “Don’t be afraid, only believe.” The daughter was dead; she wasn’t in agony. It was the father that was in agony. And Jesus has mercy on the father and says, “Don’t be afraid, only believe.”
This father of the demonized boy, Mark 9:22. “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” He didn’t say, “Take pity on my son,” he said, “Take pity on us!” Who? Who’s the “us”? Well, it’s his son, yes, but it’s him and his wife and the siblings and so on. Everybody involved in that boy’s life. “Take pity on us.” And you see what it… “Take pity on us!” Compassion! “Take pity on us and help us!”
This royal official, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” He’s asking, “It’s my child!” He’s asking for compassion on himself.
Canaanite woman, this is such a glorious thing, Matthew fifteen verse twenty-two. “And a Canaanite woman came out from that region and began crying out, saying, “Have mercy on my daughter!” No! “Have mercy on me, Oh Lord, Son of David, my daughter is cruelly demon possessed!”
Verse twenty-five, “She began to bow down before Him, saying, ‘Lord, help me!’” “Help me!” Alright?
That child, that loved one, that parent- there is no reason in the world that God should have mercy on them. They deserve to be in hell. But you’re not coming for God to hear them. You’re coming for Him to hear you. You’re His child; He loves you!
And you come to Him and you say, “Lord, have mercy on me! Have mercy on me! My son, my daughter, my mother, my father, is cruelly demon possessed.” Compassion.
Just think a minute of this widow of Nain, whose son the Lord raised from the dead. She wasn’t asking, she wasn’t believing. All she was doing was hurting. She was grieving, that’s all she was doing. The one thing that we are told that motivated the Lord Jesus was His compassion for this woman. That’s the one thing. He saw her tears. “Do not weep.”
In other words, beloved, we’re dealing with a compassionate Savior. We’re not dealing with some hateful, mean god who doesn’t care about us and about our burdens and our concerns. He’s compassionate and He had compassion on her. Moved with compassion!
Here’s a woman that’s not asking Him for anything. She’s just a widow, who’s lost her only son. And all she was doing was grieving and hurting and weeping.
What we’re doing when we come to the Lord with our loved ones is we’re asking Him to have mercy on us in the agony of our souls regarding them. And He is compassionate.
Listen to these. We won’t look at the references, but listen.
Matthew 9:36, “Seeing the multitudes, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd.”
Matthew 14:14, “And when He went ashore, He saw a great multitude, and he felt compassion for them and healed their sick.”
(Matthew)15:32, “Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, ‘I feel compassion for the multitude, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not wish to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.’”
(Matthew)18:27, “The lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.”
(Matthew)20:34, now, these are all in Matthew. 20:34, “And moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.”
It’s not…it wasn’t a deal of, “I wonder if this would bring more glory to God to heal them or not. Now, if it brings more glory to God, I guess I’ll heal them.” That wasn’t the way it was. He looks at them and He’s moved with compassion on those guys.
Mark 1:41, “And moved with compassion, He stretched out His hand and touched him, and said, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’” A leaper.
In Luke 10:33, “A Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion.”
And Luke 15:20, “And he got up and came to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”
We’re dealing with a compassionate Savior and a compassionate God.
The Bible says, “As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities them that fear him. He knows our frame; that we are dust, a wind that passes, and does not return.” (Psalm 103:13-14)
So may God help us to earnestly, persistently and believingly entreat Him on behalf of our loved ones, holding on to the fact that He’s compassionate. He’s a compassionate Savior.
Amen.
