Compassion for Sinners

Matthew 9 verse 35 is where we will be returning to this evening.

I got to the church early and usually I'll get here to hang out and see who will say something to me so it gets included in the sermon. Johnny Faust said there's the ordained minister or should we say the disdained minister and Jack Lao said if this is your first sermon here since you've been ordained we expect something good so if it's bad I will be disdained and so we're in Matthew's Gospel and it's really a fascinating book. Matthew's Gospel is not uniquely Jewish but it's distinctly Jewish. He is very focused on an Abrahamic significance being perpetrated and and thought of as you're looking in this gospel at the very beginning in chapter 1 verse 1 he points out that Jesus is Abraham's descendant and really what he's doing in opening up with a genealogy is connecting with the Tanakh.

In the end of the Old Testament in Jesus's time it would have been Chronicles and Chronicles begins with a genealogy. Matthew says I'm going to begin with a genealogy let you know that this is Scripture and where the story seems to be ended I'm going to show you that in this man to come this is the fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham. Jesus is the fulfillment of Israel's purpose. He is the one through whom the world will be blessed and Matthew bookends the gospel in the Great Commission. How is the world blessed through Abraham? In Jesus. How is the world blessed in Jesus? By hearing his gospel and believing it. Matthew's Gospel hinges on two points. If you were in Matthew 4 you'll find first and foremost the temptation of Christ. He is facing Satan in the wilderness and as he emerges victorious I believe it's 4 23 it's as though Jesus walks up to the mic being the first victor over the tempter and it says from that point on he began preaching repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand there's your first that's called an initiatory phrase you don't see it again until Matthew 16 the end there Peter is about to tempt Jesus to get all the crown with none of the cross and Jesus rebukes him saying get thee behind me Satan and it says just before then from that time forward Jesus began and those are the two hinges they're temptation points in the gospel the same temptation Satan said hey if you'll bow to me I'll give you all crown no cross Peter said hey skip the cross get all crown and we're right in the middle of those today we're looking right in the middle of those two points smack dab in the middle here in Matthew 9 and 10 and Jesus is gonna spend most of his ministry here in Galilee doing a circuit as it were and he's building up a sense of tension because he's going to eventually shoot down into Jerusalem and you should know that there's something significant about Jesus the Prophet descending into Jerusalem because that's where all the prophets are killed and there's this tension building up there and that's why Peter goes look I know you're I know you're the Messiah and everything but let me inform you about this you're not dying and Jesus says get thee behind me Satan and so we're in Matthew's gospel tonight Matthew is intentionally I think writing a a new Torah as it were he's going to break down the gospel in the five books narrative and teaching narrative and teaching does it five times as though Jesus is the new Messiah or the new Moses as it were and so that's where we find ourselves tonight in Matthew 9 in the late 1800s there lived a man by the name of Charles Spurgeon who is known to this day as the prince of preachers Spurgeon pastor the famous Metropolitan Tabernacle in London England were thousands upon thousands of men and women would flock to hear his world renowned sermons from this church Spurgeon with us would establish some 66 benevolence ministries a pastor's college and an orphanage which is said to have saved over 1,500 English children from off the streets of London as a direct result in his investment of the lives of the young man at the pastor's college by the way he funded that pastor's college with his own income there would be over 200 churches planning through his direct involvement on top of this Spurgeon preached between 10 and 15 times a week and was considered a lovingly devoted husband and father a man once approached Spurgeon expressing his concern that all the obligations that Spurgeon had were going to break down his body or his constitution this is Spurgeon's reply well if I have done so I'm glad of it I would do the same again if I had 50 constitutions I would rejoice to break them all down in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ Spurgeon would go on to do just that he would defy his genetic promise as his father lived to be 91 and his grandfather lived to be 89 Spurgeon would go on to die at the age of 57 being largely attributed to his unrelenting devotion to the ministry of the gospel his life though short-lived marked with deep depression deep heartache deep betrayal would go on to be one considered to be a gem of remarkable devotion to the gospel of Jesus Christ but why why is it that we see a man who is so unwaveringly committed to this cause that he is willing to put his life on the line and die an early death what is the catalyst that drives what such a man what is it that beckons a husband and a wife to sell everything they own and to move across the world for missions what would cause a man to move from Illinois to Spartanburg to pastor a little church and knock on the door of an alcoholic adulterer for nine months until Christ would break in on his soul save them and introduce the gospel to my own family as he did with my grandfather what is the reason that men and women like you and me are forced to break out of our comfort zones to share the gospel with those in Burlington it's because as we look at Matthew through at nine 35 through 40 tonight or 35 through 38 tonight we find that we are the hands of Christ for hurting sinners tonight we will be reminded that at this point in the life of Jesus as HB Charles says Jesus begins to commission men to take the reins of spreading his gospel and those reins have not been taken back the first thing I want to know I want us to notice in our text this evening is the compassion of Christ then 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 as we look in verse 35 we see that Christ is making his way through Galilee this is a circuit that he is doing he is going to populous cities and small villages and synagogues Christ has concerned himself with the spreading of the gospel of the kingdom throughout this region Jesus isn't sitting with the disciples and conjuring up a map of the most strategic cities to begin spreading his message his mission is simple from big cities to suburban communities the message that he has to proclaim is a message that is needed by all Jesus walking through a land filled with heartache as they have endured occupation of foreign forces for centuries declares to them the great message that regardless of what is occurring in Rome God still reigns triumphally and in Christ this kingdom is inaugurated and in the second return of Christ it will be fully consummated Christ is declaring that God still reigns and that in himself the kingdom is at hand one thing I want us to notice now that we will come back to later is the practice of him healing every sickness and healing every disease for now I will say that the purpose for this and the Ministry of Christ is twofold is first for the verification of his message as well as to communicate something to us that where he is there is a repulsion a pushing back against the darkness of the fall a pushing back against the ailing of the human soul as a result of its rebellion against God when we look at the life of the Lord there's not one account of an ailing soul coming to him that goes away empty-handed so when we see the compassion of Christ here in his we have seen it so far his his practice of publishing the good news as well as his presence with those who are in need well as the Lord is about his work he finds himself looking at the multitude before him and he is moved with compassion the word for compassion here is one of my favorite Greek words to say simply because of how it sounds splanchnons or in this text splanchnizomai now what's interesting about that word is the only time that it's used throughout the Gospels and is in reference to the emotional life of Jesus it's it's in reference to the emotional life of Jesus when looking at the condition of the world around him splanchnizomai or your splanchnons refer to the kidneys or the bowels and it conveys a sense of overwhelming emotion that is akin to a pit or two butterflies in your stomach maybe you felt something like this as you reflect back on your high school days when you have your eyes set on that pretty young lady and you've decided you're going to be bold enough to finally ask her out and before you take that first step you have nervousness in your intestines the the ancients were pretty much on the same level as we were they thought that the emotional life of people was locked into their their bowels and we still speak that way today you give me butterflies or I had a pit in my stomach so fellas if you have an anniversary come up you can write a little card to her and say something along the lines of you still stir my bowels and and let me know how that works because my anniversary is not till December and so I'll get a good feedback on whether I want to try that or not now regardless of whether you've experienced this or not well there's with a little lady you want to ask out or maybe it's your big baseball game of your senior year it's the bottom of the ninth and the bases are loaded and it's two outs and it's all on you you don't want to blow it we've probably all felt something along these lines but in reference to this word Matthew Harrison says for Jesus Splunk and Zomai is always compassion giving birth to action as we look throughout the gospel throughout the Gospels this word by the authors is isolated and utilized only for Jesus utilized only for Jesus and it's not hard to find for instance in Matthew 14 13 Jesus is informed about the execution of John the Baptist his beloved cousin when he receives the news the text tells us that Jesus retreats to the wilderness to be by himself and the stardom of Jesus declares or determines that that's not going to be the case and so a crowd follows him out of the city now I want you to picture yourself in this situation here John the Baptist is the first person outside of Mary to rejoice at the news that Jesus is present even in the womb of Elizabeth he's leaping for joy that Jesus is here and throughout his entire life as prophesied in the Old Testament my mission is to set straight the message or the people for the reception of the Messiah make straight the paths for he is coming and throughout his whole lives John is declaring this is the Lamb of God who will come to take away the sins of the world and when Jesus thinks of John what does he say about him there's never been a better man born of woman than John and John for standing up for truth has his head cut off to satisfy Herod's daughter and directly Derek Herod's wife and Jesus receiving this news retreats to be alone but the crowds don't care they follow him and where it would have been tempting at least on my behalf to explode on the this this attitude of being inconsiderate that is being presented by those following him that is not what we see with Jesus if I were in Christ's shoes I would explode on these insatiable crowds but that's not how Jesus acts is it Matthew 14 14 says that when Jesus saw them he was moved with compassion splat Mitzvah my for them and he healed their sick Christ who is no doubt pierced to the core of his being at the death of his beloved cousin lifts his eyes and sees that he is being followed by a multitude and instead of being angered or inconvenienced by them he is pierced in the depths of his being for them he cares for them he ministers to them another examples in Luke's gospel Luke 711 the Lord is making his way into name Jesus finds himself walking up on a funeral procession there's a little widowed mother who is walking out following the body of her only son and as Christ looked at this little lady who's now all alone in the world his heart aches for her as we find in verse 13 it reads when the Lord saw her he had compassion splat Mitzvah my for her and he said do not weep and the Lord goes on to raise this young man from the dead as we consider these scenarios we find that when the Gospels reserve the use of this term for the Lord alone we aren't just seeing a case of mere human pity we are witnessing the divine compassion of God for troubled people when we read about the compassion of Christ we learn that we have a God who cares for the condition of people who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities he isn't distant he is aloof and the emotion of our Lord here it is accessible it is genuine it is true what we find here is that Jesus cares for suffering sinners notice the language back in our text for this evening in verse 36 when he saw when he saw isn't it a beautiful thing that like the preachers the old preachers back home used to say that we have a God who sits up high and he looks down low and he's aware of us he's aware of us he isn't ignorant of us he is distant from us he is indifferent towards us but he sees us and he has compassion for us and maybe you're here tonight and you find yourself being devoured with concerns devoured with guilt devoured with anxiety and with sin beloved Christ sees you Christ has compassion for sinners like you in church this presents an opportunity for us to ask the question how is our gut health when you look at the world around you are you move with gut-wrenching gut churning compassion for it or are we just merely repulsed to the point that we simply want to retreat away from it do you find yourself compelled to love sinners when you think of the compassion of Christ for them are we so carried about with the concerns of this life that we don't even have a chance to see them at all it's hard for us to see the plight of sinners around us when we are so sold out and committed to our own conveniences and our own comforts and our own concerns and our Christ Christ sees them Christ is concerned for them if this isn't our position this evening then perhaps it would be beneficial for us to look at point two we're moving on from the the compassion of Christ to the plight of sinners verse 36 when he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd in verse 36 we find that Christ's heart is stirred for this crowd because when he looked at them he sees a crowd of people that are akin to to weary and scattered sheep without a shepherd if you're reading the New English translation which I doubt many of you are it reads that they are bewildered and helpless this could also be translated that they are they are bewildered and thrown down in the eyes of Jesus these folks are abandoned they're abused torn up and thrown down they're in great danger and they are without the resources to escape from it now I want you to notice that these are these are not considered a quotation here this is Matthew's commentary and Matthew's doing something here he's echoing Ezekiel chapter 34 I'm happy to read Ezekiel 34 verses 1 through 11 with you I'll actually go down to verse 7 this is a declaration of God on the shepherds of Israel now go back I'm gonna read the whole thing Ezekiel 34 and the word of the Lord came to me saying son of man prophesy against the shepherds of Israel prophesy and say to them thus says the Lord God to the shepherds woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves should not the shepherds feed the flocks you eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool you slaughter the fatlings but you do not feed the flock the weak you have not strengthened nor have you healed those who were sick nor bound up the broken nor brought back what was driven away nor sought what was lost but with force and cruelty you have ruled them so they were scattered because there was no shepherd and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered my sheep wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill yes my flock was scattered on the whole face of the earth and no one was seeking or searching for them and verse 11 he says for thus says the Lord God indeed I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out as a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep and Matthew picks that up and he imports it as he looks at the eyes of Christ gazing over the plight of sinners and says this is the true and loving Shepherd of Israel this is the true and loving Shepherd of Israel who has come to seek and to save that which is lost now this is an indictment a bold indictment by the gospel on the leaders of Israel who were so atrociously off-kilter that according to the gospel they're so bad it's like Israel doesn't have a shepherd at all now when you read your Gospels I don't want you to read them and think to yourself like this is this is perfect Old Testament Judaism that's going on here it's it's like the days of Ezra no it's not this is second temple Judaism that is going on our first century Judaism that is taking place here we need to understand that the Jewish community is not the same as when we read the Old Testament this is why Jesus frequently declares to the Pharisees that if they understood the law and the prophets they would understand it's talking about him centuries have passed new parties have come to power and backbreaking traditions and rituals have been added that burdened the people of Israel this is why when Jesus is about to call us 12 in chapter 10 he is communicating to us a new leadership in the Covenant community these are going to be the the foundations of the New Covenant as Paul tells us this gospel what it's telling us right here is that the leaders of Israel are so off-kilter that in Christ the New Covenant is coming and that in his apostles we have the foundation of the New Covenant and even here we see it in its infancy being sent out to declare it to Galilee so as we look at the world around us we should find ourselves equipped with the heart of Christ as we look at the herd of sinners who are wandering in darkness with no means of escape we should find the depths of our very souls yearning for their deliverance when was the last time that you wept before God for the salvation of a sinner in your life when was the last time you genuinely found yourself compelled by the plight of lost sinners who will one day stand before a holy God and found yourself compelled by the love of Christ to seek for their salvation in Christ alone when we look at at Burlington when we look at alamance when we look at North Carolina when we look at the world are we compelled by the love of Christ for sinners or are we comfortable just playing church because we've got our conservative doctrine right and everything looks fine and happy in these four walls on Sunday morning listen to the testimony recorded in second Clement second Clement's an early letter written in the second century and he's obviously very Paulinian in his in his writing listen to this what praise then or what reward shall we give him in return for what we have received we were maimed in our understanding worshiping stone and wood and gold and silver and copper the works of men and our whole life was nothing else than death we were covered with darkness and our eyes were full of mist but we have received our sight and by his will we have cast off the cloud which covered us for he had pity Splunk Nizoma on us and saved us in his mercy and regarded the great error and destruction which was in us and our hopelessness of salvation saved from him for he called us when we were not and it was his will that out of nothing we should come into being this this is a man who who understands the plight of sinners who understands that it was once his plight but that Christ had pity on him Christ had pity on his church and may we not forget that we're for not were it not for the grace of God when we gaze at our culture there go I but he had pity on me he had pity on me beloved we are not simply more intelligent than our neighbors we are not somehow more philosophically and religiously educated that we made the proper choice he just pitied us and we don't know why but the only insight that we have in the scriptures is just it's because he wanted to it's because he wanted to that he looked at us and took our barren estate into account and he was merciful on the plight of us poor sinners beloved are we concerned for those who are bound by him by sin are you brokenhearted for those who are in bondage by by the cults and the false religions that are growing even in our own community you drive through Elon on just about any Thursday and you'll find the Jehovah's Witnesses out there and one thing about the Jehovah's they're my favorite group to evangelize they're very kind people but they are woefully darkened in their understanding of the Word of God or we burn for the Jehovah's Witnesses or we burden for the rapidly exploding Islamic population in town and cities like Greensboro they are in darkness and do we have a heart like Christ to gaze at them and when we see them and by the way we can't see them when our eyes are always glued to social media when we see them do we have compassion for them as we look at point three today we will find that Christ wants us to be aware of the pressing need so yeah my alliteration is off passionate or does a lot better than I do but you'll have to forgive me the first point is compassion just capitalize the P and compassion for your own sake because the second point is the plight of sinners and the third point is the pressing need so I just ruined the P alliterations but if you capitalize P you'll get through it'll be okay the third thing we'll see is the pressing need at hand pressing need for the last several days the southeast has watched with amazement at the power of Hurricane Helene and the destruction that she has left in her wake dams were breached homes were washed away washed away trees were uprooted my old associate pastor back home who's a great mentor to me his wife said that a friend of theirs in in Burnsville one of his deacons wives were washed away in that flood lives have been lost I was struck by the severity of the situation when I read a warning by a news agency in Florida that stated if you choose to stay in the evacuation zone after being warned make sure that you write your social security code on your body so that we might identify you shockingly even with a warning some still determine that they're gonna try to make it on their own and in this text Christ is aware of the sinful nature of Israel shepherds and so he has come that in him the true Israel souls might be saved from the wrath to come when we consider the the power of God that a hurricane as perfect and as powerful as this is not even worthy to be considered a fraction of his power and that we know the souls we look at will stand before that great and powerful Lord it's a great motivation to us the picture in this text is going to quickly shift from shepherds and sheep to the harvest and what strikes me about this illustration is Jesus says the harvest is plentiful the laborers are few is that when you when you find harvest language in the Old and New Testament it's almost always talking about the judgment on the last day with that amount I think that Jesus is alerting us to the work in front of us that indeed as he says the harvest is plentiful but I think that there is most likely a backdrop of eschatological judgment that is going on here as I said before Jesus comes and he sends his messengers to save souls from the wrath that is to come now this picture strikes me with a sense of urgency a sense of urgency that is both expected positive and a sense of urgency that is alarming first the harvest image conveys a sense of expectancy to those who accept this call a farmer doesn't wake up and look at his harvest ready field and expect to return home empty-handed and likewise the Christian laborer should accept this mission with an optimistic expectancy knowing that Christ has informed us that the harvest is so plentiful that we cannot accomplish the task by ourselves there's something significant taking place here which is at this point it's becoming clear to us that in the humanity of Jesus he cannot reach everybody with his message and so he is bestowing the reins on his apostles the church the arm of his outreach to the world beloved if the spirit according to this imagery has been eager to ripen the souls of sinners for a reception of this gospel then why are we as the hands and feet of Jesus not eager to make sure that they get that message the imagery is clear it's harvest season call your neighbors call the church get everyone out there to get in the harvest before it is past time because it's too much for you alone but it seems that we often completely misconstrue this passage and instead of seeing an expectancy we almost have a pessimistic outlook when it comes to our sharing the gospel I say it quite often but when we share the gospel we have a 100% success rate he's going I'll say it later in the sermon but faithfulness is our duty the results are up to him and so as we read this text here there's there's an optimistic sense of expectancy when we evangelize the Spirit is eager to ripen souls for the reception of the gospel and if you believe in Christ tonight you know that's been the case with you as well hardly any of us received the gospel the first time that we heard it but there was something supernatural which took place the Spirit ran before the messenger beginning to do a work of grace within the heart of dead sinners and as the gospel was declared the Spirit as it were takes the baton from our ears and runs it to our souls where we with repentant faith rejoicing Lee received that message with Thanksgiving and Jesus says the harvest is ready but alarmingly the laborers are few not only is it alarming that the laborers are few but the reality is is that harvest don't last forever we have a muscadine vine in our backyard it is gargantuan and it just so happened this year that when it became ripe I was in Montana and and when those muscadines get ripe they're really nice and the birds quite enjoy them as well as my mulberries and when you miss that peak they're getting wiped out quickly and it's alarming to us because harvest doesn't last forever winter comes winter comes and the task before us is bigger than we could ever imagine beloved and since that's the case perhaps our prayers shouldn't be as concerned with opportunities as they should be concerned with the need for reinforcements now I'm not saying that when you wake up in the morning you shouldn't pray Lord give me an opportunity to witness but I am saying that perhaps in this text we should be praying Lord give us some more help I don't think you should have to pray about witnessing to people as much as you should be praying that the Spirit prepare them you don't have to pray about witnessing the people that the commands already there the will of God's already clear he's not gonna knock knock on the door of your heart be like this is confirmation he's already written it down for you right this is a pressing need the work is great the harvest is plenty us but the laborers are few Burlington's dying North Carolina's dying our nation's dying without Christ our mission is urgent but this is no one-man show so how do we respond to this well so far we have seen the compassion of Christ the plight for sinners of sinners a pressing need and now we'll finish with the last peak as this is getting too much a personal Commission a personal Commission what's your response to what we see tonight what is the response and duty of Christians as Christ presents this circumstance thus it's twofold the first thing we see is that in verse 38 we are to pray because this is the case Jesus says pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest in 1857 a New York businessman like tens of thousands of others found himself out of work due to an economic collapse with their minds turned from success and pleasure to uncertainty and fear this businessman named Jeremiah lamp here was appointed the city missionary to downtown New York City by Dutch Reform Church in the area burdened by the awareness of the need around him Jeremiah decided that he was going to invite others to join him on Wednesdays from 12 to 1 to pray for the needs of downtown New York City on September 23rd 1857 Jeremiah's first meeting began and no one showed up until after 30 minutes after it started six men popped up and the next week 40 men popped up and so they decided hey we would be interested in doing this every day during our lunch break and so they did that within six months time 10,000 men were gathering for prayer in New York City at lunchtime from 12 to 1 and within two years time over 2 million converts were added to American Church in New York City and there was no flashing lights there was no celebrity it was just a remarkable act of God through the prayers of his people prayer beloved is the ordained window through which God is pleased to blow his blessings into the world why pray God's ordained prayer he's ordained prayer as the window through which that nice breeze of his blessing enters into our world and we seeing the task before us should make it a matter of personal duty to pray that God would raise laborers to this task Matthew Henry wrote and I I love this and find it to be true in my own life it is a good sign that God is about to bestow a special mercy on his people when he stirs up those that have an interest at the throne of grace to pray for it Christ specifies that we are praying to the Lord of the harvest that's the only time you see that title in the scriptures this title is to remind you that God is in control the times and the seasons of this harvest and in John 4 35 Jesus says you know the same four months between planning and harvest but I say to you wake up and look around the fields are already ripe for harvest not only to this does this remind us that he is in control of harvest time but he is in control of its success as well therefore when we evangelize we do so with confidence because we know this faithfulness is my job but the results belong to the Lord when we share the gospel faithfully and we see no one come to Christ it's not time for us to come back and go to the drawing board and see what we can reimagine the Chiefs already given his orders you carry it out and he says leave the results up to me leave the results up to me so will you commit to praying will you pray for God to raise up emboldened believers will you pray for him to raise up faithful ministers of the gospel will you pray that God would cultivate a deep hunger in his church in this church not only for prayer but for witness second we not only should pray but we should respond by personal action wondering why I read chapter 10 verse 1 and I'll hurry up when he called his 12 disciples to them to him he gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out and they heal all kinds of disease are all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease does that sound familiar to you it should because it's the first verse we read in verse 35 preaching the gospel the kingdom healing every sickness and every disease among the people this is Matthew's way of tying these scenes together if you're doing your devotion time don't always stop where your chapter ends those weren't added until a few centuries later or recently for us to be able to keep track of of where we're at and navigating our Bibles but if you just see a big tin there and go that's it for the day and you start back tomorrow morning groggy-headed you're not gonna pick up on what Matthew's doing here but he's trying to show you something he's tying these scenes together and it's almost humorous to me it's like Jesus is telling them to get to praying for laborers and as they bend down Jesus walks up and taps them on the shoulders and says time to get to work fellas you are the laborers you are the laborers so not only is the Christian response to be one of prayer but to be one of active interest in the spreading of the gospel it isn't just an invitation it's a duty we have as believers which becomes a joy when our hearts are filled with the compassion of the Lord it's a privilege it's a duty it's an honor it's a it's a compelling experience because we were overcome with the heart of Christ for ruined sinners and when we pray the prayer that God delights to hear is not Lord send my sister or my brother but it's Lord if you need somebody here I am send me and if you're not pleased with me please raise up a laborer for the harvest for its plentiful Lord as you know but your laborers are few church we live in a society that's plunging and has plunged into undeniable darkness the fields are plentiful the work is glorious but the laborers are few will you join me in praying will you join me in witnessing as we conclude this sermon I want to specifically highlight the the underlying theme of shepherds present here that's in this text as Matthew connects it to Ezekiel 34 we live in a world that is full of false teachers a world full of charlatans men who are ear ticklers and self-serving pagans and even in our ranks of faithful ministers there are still those who are in it for themselves and are hiding who they truly are we live in a world full of false teachers but God has promised us in Jeremiah 3 15 that he would give his church shepherds after his own heart there was a recent earth shadow shattering scandal with a faithful reformed preacher falling into marital unfaithfulness for years before he was exposed and some people's response to that is there's another one we can't trust anybody the whole thing's just a scandal but God's promised to his church he will give us faithful shepherds who have the heart of God for his people I am a young man and have the fortunate pleasure of knowing and fellowshiping with other young men in the ministry but I am gripped with heartache as I hear of faithful churches all over who are suffering without shepherds to leave them to lead them it's it's heartbreaking will you join me in praying that God will call more young men to the ministry and that if he wills that beacon might be a place where God is pleased to raise up and to send off young men to serve as faithful pastors and missionaries for the sake of the harvest may it be so with our sons that they would be preachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ I'm aware there's a danger in exciting young men into ministerial aspirations but I'm also aware there's a danger in young men thinking that the ministry is no thing to be considered at all the reform world we overcorrect some people think if any young man loves Jesus you're called and in the reform world our tendency is to think we better not encourage anybody and just let them come to that realization on their own I think that we should land somewhere in the middle and if there's someone here tonight is thinking that I want to say this whoever desires the office of a bishop desires a good thing but just because you desire it does not mean that you were designated for it the local church affirms those gifts and attest to those gifts as you bless her through how God has equipped you from personal experience I can testify that serving Christ in this capacity is the greatest privilege that I could ever imagine that I get to preach Christ and him crucified as a physician of the soul it's it's a delight it's a delight what was the catalyst that drove Spurgeon what was the catalyst they sent the Apostles it was that they felt the compassion of Christ for sinners beating within their very chest with an unquenchable zeal and may God do such a work in the hearts of the believers covenanted together at Beacon Baptist Church I'm reminded of the words of a hymn wrote by Frank Hughton in in 1931 it's called facing a task unfinished and I'll read it in closing facing facing a task unfinished that drives us to our knees a need that undiminished rebukes our slothful ease we who rejoice to know you renew before your throne the solemn pledge we owe you to go and to make you known where other Lords beside you hold their unhindered sway where forces that defied you defy you still today with none to heed their crying for life and love and light unnumbered souls are dying and passing to the night but we bear the torch that flaming fell from the hands of those who gave their lives proclaiming that Jesus died and rose ours is the same Commission the same glad message ours fired by the same ambition to you we yield our powers Oh Father who sustain them Oh Spirit who inspired Oh Savior whose love constrain them to toil with zeal untired from cowardice defend us from lethargy awake forth on your errand send us to labor for your sake this is the Word of God for the people of God let's pray dear Heavenly Father we thank you for the word of the living and true God we thank you for your heart for sinners we thank you that when you looked on us when you considered us you had pity for us as I am bound to consider the doctrine of election how you in your full knowledge looked at me even in my most sinful estate as it were pointed at me and said I want that one that you sent your son and crushed him underneath the raft that belonged on me that you raised up by the power of your spirit messengers to come and declare the gospel that you by your spirit awaken me to receive gladly by the faith that you gave me thank you thank you for your pity on a sinner like me may I never forget may we never forget the beauty and the zeal and the compassion of the gospel let me not be content to say that simply because we are in that our work is over no it's just begun we've been drafted for service of you our Lord Lord if there's one here tonight that doesn't know you may you be pleased to show them the love of Christ for fallen sinners bring your people to yourself through your word and for your glory it's in Jesus name we pray