Turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 9. I'll read the chapter and our focus will be on verses 35 to 38. Matthew chapter 9, I'll begin reading in verse 1. So he got into a boat, crossed over, and came to his own city.

Then, behold, they brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven you. And at once, some of the scribes said within themselves, this man blasphemes.

But Jesus, knowing their thoughts said, why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven you or to say arise and walk. But that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins. And he said to the paralytic, arise, take up your bed and go to your house.

And he rose and departed to his house. Now when the multitude saw it, they marveled and glorified God who had given such power to men. As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And he said to him, follow me.

So he arose and followed him. Now what happened? As Jesus sat at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?

When Jesus heard that, He said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, but go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?

But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.

While he spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshipped him, saying, My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live. So Jesus arose and followed Him, and so did His disciples. And suddenly a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. For she said to herself, If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.

But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her, He said, Be of good cheer, daughter. Your faith has made you well. And the woman was made well from that hour. When Jesus came into the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping.

And they ridiculed Him. But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. And the report of this went out into all that land. When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, Son of David, have mercy on us.

And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, Do you believe that I am able to do this? They said to Him, Yes, Lord. Then He touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith, let it be to you.

And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, See that no one knows it. But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country. As they went out, behold, they brought to him a man, mute and demon-possessed.

And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, It was never seen like this in Israel. But the Pharisees said, He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons. 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.

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Amen.

Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for the word of God. We thank you for the gospel concerning our blessed Savior. And we pray now for ears to hear and hearts to receive your truth.

And may you encourage us in terms of prayer, in terms of seeking men to lead in churches and missions. And God, may you be glorified through the church in our age. Fill us with your Holy Spirit. Again, wash us from all of our sin.

And we ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Introduction: Matthew 9 in Context

Well, in Matthew's gospel in this particular section, just prior in Matthew 5-7, you see the authority of Jesus in his words. Remember, it's the Sermon on the Mount. And as that sermon concludes, we see that the people are amazed because he taught them, not like their scribes and Pharisees had, but he taught as one who had authority. Well, in chapters 8 and 9, you see the authority of Christ in his works.

So in his words, 5 to 7, in his works, 8 and 9. And you see several of those works in this particular chapter. And here, there's a bit of a transition. It moves from narrative recording, his words and power, to another discourse in chapter 10.

And we see that this is transitional, because what Jesus does at the end of chapter 9, he corrects in chapter 10. He tells us to pray, and then Jesus prays, and then Jesus ordains or installs or or sets in motion the apostolic men. He picks those men and then he commissions them to go out to Israel and to preach and to teach and to heal the sick. So it's a transition that links the two chapters in the ministry of our Lord.

One man says this passage forms a bridge. It both reviews Jesus' manifold ministry and prepares for its extension through his disciples. So Christ delegates to the disciples so that they can go out and bring the good news concerning Jesus to all the world. And we see something of his heart revealed in this passage.

Remember, he's like us in all things and yet without sin. He's moved with compassion when he sees this particular scene. And I think it speaks multitudes to the church today. We ought to have that light compassion.

Certainly we are grieved by what we read concerning government oppression and persecution of churches. We saw that in the last hour. Just about everywhere in the world there's that kind of thing going on. And it can quite discourage us.

Or we see, you know, the rise of Islam. Or we see false religion prevalent. At the same time, brethren, we need to be moved with compassion for the multitudes that they come to a knowledge of our blessed Savior. Christ is able to save to the uttermost all who draw nigh unto God through Him.

And if we believe in the power of His gospel, we believe that the harvest truly is plentiful, then we will be a prayerful people and as well seeking out men to train up so that they can go engage in this task.

Outline of Three Points

I want to look first at the summary of his ministry in verse 35, secondly the compassion of his heart in verse 36, and then finally the instruction to his disciples in verses 37 and 38.

Summary of Christ's Ministry

Now notice the location, then Jesus went out, 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. So he's in the region of Galilee, that's the northern part of Israel. You had the northern tribes, you had the southern tribes, there was obviously dissolution by this time. There were still some people remnants up there in the north in Galilee, and that's where his ministry is.

And notice the focus on his ministry, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. In other words, he wasn't entertaining. He wasn't simply building up a fan club, but rather he was teaching the word of God. preaching and ministering that truth, the gospel of the kingdom, absolutely crucial for sinners, that they may by grace come out of darkness into marvelous light, but we see as well that fellow feeling in terms of the physical distress of people. He didn't heal every single person, we see that in the gospel records, but he definitely had an abundance of love and mercy and compassion, and he did heal a great multitude.

Compassion of Christ's Heart

Now notice secondly, the compassion of his heart in verse 36. It says, when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd. So the statement concerning his compassion, the ones who heard, the ones rather who heard his words in 729 and those who witnessed his works according to 933 are the people that he's looking upon now. Notice when he saw the multitudes.

The multitudes are the post-exiles after the Babylonian captivity. They go back to Judah, they go back to Galilee, they populate the land again, but they're under foreign dominance. They're under a foreign oppressor. They're under the rule of the Roman Empire at this particular time.

But as we move through the passage, that's not their biggest problem. Their biggest problem is they're religiously exacerbated or exasperated. They are not being taught. They are not being led.

They are not being instructed with the truth of God's holy word. So the multitudes are hearing Jesus. Jesus now sees the multitudes and it says, when he saw them, he was moved with compassion.

Christ's Compassion and Human Nature

Now it's certainly dealing with Christ according to his humanity. God, in His essence, is not moved. He's not affected. He's impassable.

He's immutable. There's no movement in terms of who God is. This is Christ according to His human nature. The person of Christ feels or moved with compassion in this scene.

Now turn back or turn over to chapter 14. You see a similar observation in the gospel record. Matthew 14 at verse 14. It goes along with our reading this morning in Hebrews 4.

He sympathizes with our weaknesses. He's moved with compassion. He sees the destitution of people and he wants to remedy that. He wants to help.

So notice in 1414, and when Jesus went out, he saw a great multitude and he was moved with compassion for them and healed their sick. 1532, same emphasis. 1532 now Jesus called his disciples to himself and said I have compassion on the multitude because they have now continued with me three days and have nothing to eat and I do not want to send them away hungry lest they faint on the way notice in 1827 1827, then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. It's a parable, but Jesus holds this out as a commendable trait on the part of that master. And then look at chapter 20 in verse 34. Chapter 20 at verse 34, well, verse 33, they said to him, Lord, that our eyes may be open.

So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes and immediately their eyes received sight and they followed him. Again, brothers and sisters, we need to understand this about the Savior. Last week I mentioned it's not only the what of the gospel, the fact that Christ lived, died, and rose again, but it's the why, because God so loved the world. It's the why.

Christ has compassion upon fellow persons that are suffering. Christ has compassion on those who are weary and scattered. He has compassion on those in need. That's the Savior the church preaches.

That's the Savior the church evangelizes with, or evangelizes in light of, and engages in missions. We don't have a begrudging, miserly, Ebenezer Scrooge-like master. We have a benevolent one. We have a compassionate one.

We have one who sympathizes with the weaknesses of his own people. R.T. France makes this observation concerning the use of the word compassion. He says his response is described by the strongly emotional Greek verb, which speaks of a warm, compassionate response to need.

No single English term does justice to it. Compassion, pity, sympathy, and fellow feeling all convey part of it. But his heart went out perhaps represents more fully the emotional force of the underlying metaphor of a gut response. A further feature of this verb appears through a comparison with its other uses in Matthew.

In each case, there is not only sympathy with a person's need, This is important. It's not just sympathy with a person's need, but also a practical response which meets the need. Brethren, there's quite frankly times where we have compassion for one another. We have fellow feeling with our brothers and sisters.

There's not anything we can really do to mitigate the problem. I mean, it's nice to have misery in company, it's nice to have sympathy on the part of a fellow, but that's not how this verb is employed relative to Jesus. He not only has that compassion, but he has the omnipotence and the power to do something to correct it. He goes on to say, emotion results in caring and effective action.

In this case, the action of sending out his disciples among the people. It is a verb which describes the Jesus of the gospel stories in a nutshell. Again, it jives with what we see in Hebrews 2.17, on fellow feeling. Therefore, in all things, he had to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God.

If he isn't who he is, then we are dead in our trespasses and sins. It was requisite that he be both God and that he be man. And that according to his manhood, according to his humanity, he has this compassion for sinners. Now

The Spiritual Root of the Problem

notice the rationale or the reason for this. When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them because... Go back to chapter 9, verses 1 to 8. When they bring this paralytic in to the Lord Jesus, they're obviously bringing the paralytic in to be healed, right?

They're not bringing the paralytic to Jesus to be forgiven of his sins, but that's what Jesus does. Jesus speaks to his greater need. There is a problem bigger than paralysis, and it's the sin issue. And so when Jesus sees the man on the bed, he says, son, your sins are forgiven you.

Of course, they say, well, who but God alone could forgive sins? This man blasphemes. Well, Jesus knew this and Jesus addresses that. He says, which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven or take up your bed and walk?

Well, it's easier to say your sins are forgiven because we don't know if that actually transpires. I can say your sins are forgiven, but there's no light that shines over your head to indicate that your sins have been forgiven. It's easier to say your sins are forgiven. So what does he do?

Son, take up your bed and walk. Why? Because the fact that the guy was able to comply with that command illustrates that what Jesus had said in the forgiveness of sins was true. The picking up the mat and walking was exhibit A in the courtroom.

He does have authority on earth to forgive sins. He does have the power to speak the word of forgiveness. And that was the abiding lesson. So again, when Jesus looks upon these multitudes, yeah, they're politically oppressed.

Yeah, they probably got money problems. Yeah, there might've been inflation. Yeah, the cost of doing business in the Roman Empire might've been soaring. All those needs, all those tangible realities are there, but when he's moved with compassion, notice the specifics of the text.

Verse 36, he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd. So the first term is probably better translated, harassed. They were harassed and scattered. They had been bullied, oppressed, and troubled.

The problem wasn't the Roman government, though I don't think Jesus would say it's okay to be wretched and tyrannical and subjugate people in a godless way. Jesus wouldn't do that. But the problem or the evoking of the compassion is predicated on the spiritual needs of these people. They have been bullied by the religious leadership in Israel.

The second term literally is thrown down, dejected, helpless, confused. It's reminiscent of what we saw in John 6, 68, when Jesus asks the apostles, do you also want to depart? He says, or Peter says, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

I mentioned there, they're not going to go to the Pharisees and the scribes for any kind of comfort and help in terms of eternal life. They're not going to go to the Baptist because the Baptist has said he's not the Messiah. They're not even going to go to Moses. As great as Moses is in terms of the law, they need that comfort that the gospel brings.

Look back in the section, specifically at verse 34. The Pharisees said he casts out demons by the ruler of the demons. You think with that kind of an attitude, that kind of a mindset, when they witness the Lord Jesus cast out demons from some pathetic person, instead of praising God, marveling in the presence of God, esteeming the glory of Jesus Christ, they complain? They charge him as being filled with the devil.

So the people at that time are not gonna flock to these. They were hypocrites relative to the law. They heaped up burdens that they themselves were not able to carry. They were not faithful men.

There was a dearth in the land at that time in Jesus' ministry. Chamberlain again says, these shepherds, like negligent parents, have neither taught the people well nor set before them a godly example, so that the sheep are confused and vulnerable to assault. More tragically still, the shepherds themselves have become predators, whose false piety and intolerable demands threaten to destroy the sheep. I mean, it's bad enough that they didn't do their job.

But it's doubly worse that not only not doing their job, they've become actively opposed to the people they're supposed to actually care for, right? If you have a man that doesn't do his job, he should be fired. If you have a man who not only doesn't do his job, but actively persecutes those under his charge, he should be imprisoned. He should be taken out.

He should be restrained from such a position where he can affect people in that way or manner. And brethren, there is a whole host of absolute consistency with our own generation. There are faithful churches, bless God Almighty, but there's some faithless ones as well. There's some terrible places where instead of the gospel of our salvation, it's self-help, it's do-goodery, it's just sing kumbaya and everybody be happy.

We have churches today that are woke. Churches today steeped in leftism. Churches today celebrating sexual perversion right alongside of the world. Churches today that will not discipline offenders or transgressors of God's holy law.

Churches today that couldn't explain the law of God if given hours to do so. So the similarities are consistent with what we find today. Christ would look upon our landscape and have the same compassion. The problem is doctrinal, as a religious leader was not expected to heal them and to cure their sickness.

When he says, or when the text says, he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered, or they were bullied or oppressed or troubled, they weren't supposed to be, you know, fixers of everything in terms of their temporal need. They weren't supposed to feed them and clothe them and care for them. It is a spiritual malady. It is a spiritual problem.

It is the lack of teaching and preaching the word of God faithfully. The lack of proper instruction hurts sheep. I know that's odd. But the lack of proper instruction hurts sheep.

Just like if you had a sheep at home or a lamb at home and you didn't feed it, it's eventually going to get crippled and die. The same thing happens in the professing sheep of God. If we don't feed them the truth, they're going to be crippled and ultimately die. If we don't take seriously the process of identifying men after having prayed, qualifying men, training men, and sending those men out to proclaim the gospel of our salvation, we are not engaged in what Christ has called us unto.

Bless God most high for the privilege of participating in this. The Lord Jesus has moved to compassion over something that is far more menacing than just physical distress. It is the sin problem. Now, when Jesus does this, he's moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd.

Shepherd Imagery in Scripture

This is not a unique sort of metaphor in biblical history. Numbers chapter 27. Numbers chapter 27, you remember Moses knew, Moses understood he was mortal. Moses knew that he would eventually die.

What's Moses' heart with reference to the people? Now Moses is a wonderful example of a faithful leader. A faithful leader at times who even got exasperated. Remember Moses saw the task ahead.

He saw the incorrigibility of the nation of Israel. And at times it was almost like he would throw up his hands. That's not inconsistent for a human being. That is not an inconsistent response in terms of Moses.

But you know what really moved his heart? It was the people of Israel. It was the same concern, it was the same flock, it was the same desire that we see imaged by or mirrored by our blessed Savior in Matthew's Gospel. Notice in Numbers 27 at verses 15 to 17.

Then Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be what? Like sheep which have no shepherd. And of course, Joshua, the son of Nun, is the man that God raises up to replace Moses. And Joshua does that.

Joshua is faithful. Joshua, like his namesake Jesus, evidences and demonstrates salvation is of Yahweh. But as well, turn to 1 Kings chapter 22. That incident when Ahab wants to go out to battle, or he's being called upon to go out to battle.

Or he is rather initiating a call to battle with Syria with Jehoshaphat. Hey, Jehoshaphat, join my team. Let's go fight the Syrians. Jehoshaphat doesn't just wander into the battlefield.

Jehoshaphat says, hey, do we have any prophetic direction here? Kind of like a word from the Lord before we undertake this battle plan. And so, of course, Ahab says, yeah, I've got a lot of prophets and they've all affirmed my decision. And Jehoshaphat must have sensed something because he says, is there no other prophet?

And Ahab says, well, yeah, there's this one. His name's Micaiah, but he's really a pain. He never tells me what I wanna hear. I mean, typical, isn't it?

That's man in sin. I want a prophet who's gonna tell me what I wanna hear. Well, this Micah, the prophet, as he begins to prophesy, notice what he says in verse 17, 1 Kings 22. He said, I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd.

And the Lord said, these have no master. Let each return to his house in peace, which they would because Ahab would ultimately die in battle. But turn over to the prophet Jeremiah. You see in Jeremiah, you see in Ezekiel as well, prophesying concerning the new covenant when there would be shepherds after God's heart that would come to minister to the people of God.

We'll just look at the Jeremiah one. Notice in Jeremiah 23, at verse 1. Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, says the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed my people.

You've scattered my flock, driven them away and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doing, says the Lord. Brethren, there's comfort there. God will not be mocked.

And while men may escape earthly tribunals, earthly firings, earthly imprisonments, earthly executions for sedition, there will be recompense when they stand before God Most High. He says He'll deal. He says He'll take care of it. And then he goes on in verse 3, Now notice the connection in verses 5 and 6.

It is consequent on the coming of the Messiah. It is connected to the arrival of Christ. It is connected to the first advent. Notice in verse five, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness.

A king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In his days, Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely. Now this is his name by which he will be called, the Lord our righteousness. Beautiful.

So when the Lord Our Righteousness comes, when He inaugurates the New Covenant, He will ordain a class of men who are specifically set apart to shepherd the flock of God. You see that in seed form here in chapter 10 in Matthew's Gospel. He tells them to pray, He then prays, He then appoints them, and then He dispatches them to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to make known the glory of God's blessed gospel. And then in terms of the messianic application, turn to Micah 5.

Micah 5, a passage that we think of typically at Christmas time, along with Isaiah 9.6. We need to expand our horizons and think of these texts all throughout the year. And I'd love to sing, veiled in flesh, the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity, pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel, more than once a year. So if we sing a carol at some point in our church's life, I hope you don't get bent out of shape and leave.

Notice in 5-2, but you Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. That announcement concerning the coming Christ, that announcement that looks back, both back in history and forward in history. At the time of the prophet Micah, Israel had experienced salvation another time from Bethlehem. It was David.

But Israel is going to see more salvation come through Bethlehem as the, at least locale, through Messiah, through David's greater son. Now notice what happens according to verse three. Therefore he shall give them up until the time that she who is in labor has given birth. Then the remnant of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel, and he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they shall abide.

For now he shall be great to the ends of the earth, and this one shall be peace. So back to Matthew chapter 9, Jesus is moved with compassion for them. Not that he's uncompassionate or not compassionate towards physical distress, but the accent here falls upon the spiritual distress. The fact that the Pharisees and the scribes and the Sadducees couldn't teach the law of God.

Rejecting Jesus, they had no gospel of God either. They had effectively closed up heaven to the people that they were supposed to be leading, and helping, and shepherding, and feeding. It was a miserable climate that Jesus saw, and as a result, according to his humanity, he's moved with compassion.

Instruction to the Disciples

And that brings us thirdly to consider the instruction to his disciples in verses 37 and 38.

The Plentiful Harvest

Notice the declaration concerning the harvest. He changes the metaphor from sheep having no shepherd to the harvest. Notice in verse 37. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

Now the use of harvest is oftentimes referred to the Day of Judgment. You see that in Matthew's Gospel. It's not that here. The use of harvest is used here in terms of the mission given specifically to the apostles in chapter 10, and then the mission given to the church in Matthew 28.

Now, they're parallel missions. Remember in Matthew 10, they're simply to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. In other words, they will be geographically confined to the boundaries of Israel. But in terms of the Great Commission, Jesus has all authority, all power, everything in heaven and on earth.

And he tells the apostles, the church as a whole, to go therefore and to make disciples of all the nations. So we see that same sort of emphasis. What do the nations need, whether they be Jew or Gentile? They need the truth of God's word.

They need the law. They need the gospel. They need Messiah. They need that one who is a light unto the Gentiles.

That's the emphasis that we find. So the harvest is the going out by the church, calling sinners to faith and repentance, and bringing them into the barn, bringing them into the church that they may be instructed. France again says, from being the recipients of his ministry, they are to become its agents, sharing not only in the proclamation of the kingdom of heaven, but also in the works of mercy and power, which the preceding chapters have shown to characterize the authority of the Messiah himself. So France appropriates it right to this passage, right to the situation.

He said to his disciples, the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Before we notice that problem, the laborers are few, do we believe the harvest truly is plentiful? Think about that. The harvest truly is plentiful.

I think it's symptomatic at times of hyper-Calvinism or just a cold orthodoxy amongst the reform where we don't really see the harvest truly is plentiful. We think it's the frozen chosen. We think it's the handful that's gonna fall into heaven. No, the harvest truly is plentiful.

See, if we're taught to believe that the harvest truly isn't plentiful, then we probably won't go out there for it. We probably won't have any impetus. There'll be no incentivizing. If we think we're it, why would we go out there?

The harvest truly is plentiful. Turn over to Revelation chapter 7. Revelation 7 gives us a view of the church triumphant, and it uses the language of a multitude that no man can number. Look at Revelation 7 at verse 9.

Revelation 7 verse 9, after these things I looked and behold, a great multitude which no one could number. You mean Jesus was right? The harvest truly is plentiful? Yeah, Jesus is right.

The harvest truly is plentiful. Brethren, if we think the harvest is truly one denomination, we're not gonna care about anybody else. If we think the harvest is only about a handful of people that subscribe to one particular creed, we'll never do anything. We need to believe what Jesus says concerning the nature of the harvest.

It's truly plentiful. There are sinners out there to be saved. There are sinners out there that have yet to be called unto faith in our blessed Savior. So after these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice saying, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb.

You see the response of the redeemed in heaven? They don't pat themselves on the back for their free will. They don't pat themselves on the back for their good decision-making capability. They praise God most high.

Salvation belongs to our God and to the lamb who sits upon the throne. The saints in heaven sound like Jonah in the belly of the whale. The salvation is of the Lord. The saints in heaven sound like the apostle in Romans 9.

It does not depend then on him who runs or him who wills, but on God who shows mercy. You see, the saints in heaven aren't Arminians. They're certainly not Pelagians. Now, I'm not saying that Arminians don't necessarily go to heaven.

If they go to heaven, they don't keep their Arminianism. It's like my brother has said before, when I've asked him, well, was so-and-so a Paedo-Baptist? He used to be. Now he's in heaven, he's been illumined.

Just a joke, I hope everybody doesn't lose it on me. All right, and turn back to Matthew 28. Matthew 28, again, the harvest truly is plentiful. Let's not just gloss over that or forget that.

Matthew chapter 28, great commission, already alluded to it. Verse 18, and Jesus came and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Now put your finger there and go back to Psalm 2.

Psalm 2. Psalm 2 is the rationale upon which Jesus says what he says in Matthew 28. Look at Psalm 2. So you've got the mutiny of man, the rage of the nations in verses 1 to 3, and then you've got the response of Yahweh in verses 4 to 6.

So with reference to the mutiny of man, Yahweh responds according to verse 4. How does the father deal with the mutinous rebellion on earth? By the establishment of the messianic king. By the sending forth of the son of his love.

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. In the fullness of the times, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law. Now notice the Messiah declares, the Messiah gives us a bit of insight concerning this decree. The decree is verse six, I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion.

Now the Messiah lets us in on what this entails. So verse seven, I will declare the decree. The Lord has said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you.

Now notice this next verse. Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel.

See, there's no accident to the commission wherein Jesus says, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Why? Because the Father gave that to the Son. The task is quite simple in terms of definition.

Go, do what Jesus says. Call sinners to faith and repentance. Once they express faith and repentance, you baptize them, you put them in churches, and you teach them all that I have commanded you. Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And then he gives that assurance, that promise, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. See, brethren, the problem is never Christ and His reign. The problem most often is that the church does not embrace the reality that the harvest truly is plentiful. I mean, we should be singing Psalm 72 all the time, Christ shall have dominion.

Look back at Matthew chapter 8. Jesus heals the centurion's servant. Notice what we find in this particular section. Pick up at 810.

When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to those who followed, assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel. And I say to you that many will come. Notice, many will come. We just miss that, don't we?

We just gloss over it. Many? No, no, there's only a handful. No, no, there's only a few.

No, no, the old boys were right. There's only this small group that's gonna enter. I know the way is broad that leads to destruction. I know the way is narrow that leads to life.

But I also know that in that particular context, I don't think Jesus is making an eschatological pronouncement. I don't think he is telling us there how many people are gonna be or not be in heaven. I think he is pressing persons ethically. Understand that the way is broad.

There's a whole host of ways that you can go about damning yourself. There's only one legitimate way by which you'll enter into the kingdom of heaven. So when we find passages in the scripture, for instance in Matthew 22, many are called but fewer chosen. Brethren, that's not a pronouncement on eschatology.

That is Christ pressing his hearers that they close with him. Later on in Matthew 26, when he inaugurates the new covenant, he says, my blood which is shed for the remission of the sins of what? A few? A handful?

Five? No, four. Many. There is great hope in the Bible for the Church of Christ.

So back to 8-11. I say to you that many will come. Now notice the language here. From east and west.

What's that mean? From outside of Israel. Remember, Abraham was given that encouragement by God. I want you to look north.

I want you to look south. I want you to look east. I want you to look west. Everything you see, you will inherit.

Now, obviously, people will say, well, that's the land of Israel. Paul tells us it's the world. Romans chapter 4 verse 13 tells us that Abraham would inherit the world. Why is that?

Because Abraham was glorious and righteous and spotless and holy? No, because he's the father, according to the humanity of our blessed Savior, who is the seed of Abraham, in whom all the nations of the earth are blessed. So verse 11, I say to you that many will come from east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom, he's pressing those in Israel, the unbelievers, the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness.

There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said to the centurion, go your way. And as you have believed, so let it be done for you. And his servant was healed that same hour.

So back to our text, the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

The Scarcity of Laborers

That's the problem, right? He gives us the promise. The harvest truly is plentiful, but there's an adversity there. It's a problem.

We've got this harvest field. We've got all these sinners from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, but we've got a manpower problem, right? That's exactly what he says, but the laborers are few. This sets the stage for chapter 10.

Notice in verse 1 of chapter 10. And when he had called his 12 disciples to him, he gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out, to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. In the parallels, and I think it's Mark, we see that he prays and then he does this. We assume the same thing here.

He prays and then he does this. He bids us pray and do this, and then he himself prays and does this. There's a pattern. He wants us to get it.

He wants us to understand. He wants us to go thou and do likewise. Pray for laborers, for this plentiful harvest field, and pray that God will raise them up and send them out. It's a blessed thing.

As well, this is an abiding need until the end of the age. We've seen it in Matthew chapter 28. Go therefore, make disciples, and lo, I am with you, what? Even to the end of the age.

What's the church's job for as long as she's on earth? It's what we find in passages like these. It's to pray for men, to identify those men, make sure those men are qualified, and then send those men out. Sort of like an arrow from the bow sent out into the battlefield.

That's what we look at it as. Acts 14.23, on their way back, having gone through the first missionary journey, they went to the churches of Southern Galatia. On their way back, they stop in each city, and what do they do? They appoint elders in every city.

Why is that? Because without preaching, without the proclamation of the truth, without the word going forth, we're going to have similar situations, where there's going to be a bunch of sheep that are scattered, having no shepherd, those who are bullied, those who have not been treated properly, those who have not been cared for. 2028. The Apostle addresses those Ephesian elders, and he says, "...shepherd the church of God, which He made you overseers of. Do so in a manner that is consistent with the dignity of the flock." We see qualifications for elders. 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, 1 Peter chapter 5.

Our confession of faith is good here. "...the grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts, and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word." ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word. Yeah, somebody could be walking out in the bush, trip over a Bible, pick it up, read it, and get saved. I get that.

I admire that. I praise God for His sovereignty. But since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe, 1 Corinthians 1.21, of his own will, by the word of truth he brought us forth. We see this emphasis on preaching, on the ordinary means of grace, ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the word, by which also and by the administration of baptism and the Lord's Supper, prayer and other means appointed of God, it is increased and strengthened.

Spurgeon made this observation with reference to his students at the pastor's college. He said, brethren, if you are not theologians, you are in your pastorates just nothing at all. Everybody would leave today. Oh, he triggered us.

He said we're nothing. He insulted us. Wherein is his dignity? He'd be canceled.

He'd be fired. Don't you ever say anything that may ever possibly create even the little bit of discomfort in the ones who hear you. All right, Spurgeon, you're done. You're canceled.

Brethren, if you are not theologians, you are in your pastorates just nothing at all. You may be fine rhetoricians, you may be rich in polished sentences, but without knowledge of the gospel and aptness to teach it, you are but a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. Oh, we need Spurgeons galore today, because we got big problems today. The thought of theology, the thought of, you know, actually having to think through passages.

Did you see in the psalm? How do we praise our God? We do it with understanding. Love the Lord your God with all your heart.

So what? Mind and strength. We want a mindless, bailistic, orgiastic worship experience that simply tantalizes the flesh. The religion of Yahweh was not that way.

You saw no form, but you heard the word. The same obtains in the new covenant. The apostles were not immune to the empire. The apostle Paul had lots of truck, lots of travel in the Roman empire.

He would have seen theater. He would have seen the mimes. He would have seen drama. He would have seen all of that media available to get the word out.

What's he saying? For since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. We preach Christ and Him crucified. To the Jews, a stumbling block, and to the Greeks, foolishness.

But to those who are being saved, Christ, both the wisdom and the power of God. See, brethren, that's the emphasis here. The Lord Jesus sees this scene, and then He recommends, or gives rather, the remedy. The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

And then He gives this solution in verse 38.

The Command to Pray

Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. He's not like so many today that can identify the problem and then go have coffee. We've got, you know, masters at the identification of problems. We need fixers, solvers, persons that do what they're supposed to, to bring the remedy.

So he sees this, we see the expression of his heart with reference to this wretched condition of the people. And then he says to them, the harvest truly is plentiful, laborers are few. So what do we do, Lord? Well, I'm gonna tell you, therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

Again, sometimes I think we gloss over the little words like His. It's not our harvest. It's not about my kingdom. It's not about my celebrity.

It's about Him. And when the church takes that seriously, then we'll act in a way that is consistent with that. It's God's harvest. It's Christ's kingdom.

It's Christ's blessed provision to sinners undone. And we, by grace, have been saved. by grace have been formed into a church, excuse me, we by grace are now called to do what Eve was supposed to do with Adam. God gives Adam the dominion mandate, Eve says, help me. Eve is supposed to assist him in that.

This is Christ's project. He's about this mandate, but he calls upon us to serve. He calls upon us to preach. He calls upon us to go.

He calls upon us to pray. He calls upon us to participate. Look what he does with the apostles. He gives them like power.

He gives them likability. They're gonna go out, they're gonna cast out demons, they're gonna heal people, and they're gonna preach the gospel of the kingdom of God. Christ isn't one of these sorts of people that is, you know, it's all about me here, and I'm not gonna share any of this. Go, go do this.

Go extend my kingdom. Go to the various nations of the earth and tell them, about the gospel of our blessed Savior. So the emphasis on prayer. Ryle makes this observation.

He says, personal work, working for souls is good. Giving money is good, but praying is best of all. By prayer, we reach him without whom work and money alike are in vain. We need to pray.

We need to pray. Now, there's always those in the Western world. Well, I pray. Yeah, but you have a billion dollars.

Could you throw a few shekels into the cause? I mean, come on. The kingdom of God doesn't operate on love and fresh air. We need money for tickets.

We need money for Bibles. We need money for, I don't mean tickets that we got. I mean, tickets to fly and go somewhere. Tickets in the post COVID world means money expenditure.

Tickets for missionaries. We need to be able to feed guys that are tasked with preaching and teaching. It's an amazing reality. I mentioned Gary North a few weeks ago.

He said that men want religion, but they want it cheap. Well, brother, I'm sorry. If a man is called to preach the word of God, qualified by God, the apostle Paul says, feed him. You don't keep a muzzle on the ox while it treads out the grain, you let the ox eat alongside of his labor.

And so with reference to this, personal working for souls is good, giving money is good, but praying is best of all. So don't say, well, you know, I'm a prayer warrior. Again, you're sitting on a billion dollars, maybe cough up a bit of that or pray about it and then cough it up. But praying is best of all, by prayer we reach him without whom work and money are alike in vain.

And then with reference to prayer, we know that in all prayer, we don't pray, for instance, Matthew 6, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. And as soon as we get up off our knees, we walk over to the computer and we log on to a porn site. You don't do that, right? Everybody should be going, no, we don't do that.

No, not ever. Don't pray, God, keep me from temptation and then go walk into temptation. Right? That's intuitive.

You all get that. I'm not making this up. When you pray for something, you realize that you live in light of that prayer and you function accordingly. So God, we pray that you'd raise up laborers because the harvest truly is plentiful.

So what do we do then? Well, we're gonna just wait, you know, God will open the ceiling and drop men into our laps. No, we need to look for them, we need to train them, we need to cultivate them, we need to test them, we need to examine them, we need to lay hands on them, and then we send them out. That's what we see in the pattern of our Savior.

He prays, and then He installs. He prays, and then He sends. He prays, and then He moves on that prayer. And that's the emphasis in the verse.

Therefore, based on what He has said, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

Conclusion and Applications

Well, in conclusion, first, the ministry of Christ, the words and works of Christ are authoritative. You see that in Matthew 5 to 9, both His words and His words. But that compassion and that power of Christ are a blessing. It's like we see there in Hebrews chapter 4.

We don't have a high priest who can't sympathize with us. We're just the opposite. We have a high priest who can and does sympathize with us. If anything, this passage should encourage us with a view of our Savior.

What a blessed Savior He is. He sees when we're weary. He sees when we're scattered. He sees when we're bullied.

He sees when we're messed up. He's not blind to those particular things. The pattern established by Jesus Christ here is necessary. Turn to 2 Timothy 2.

Second Timothy chapter two. Again, I don't think that this is a stretch. We'll stop at first Timothy chapter two first. First Timothy chapter two, verse one.

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men. Beautiful statement, huh? First of all, I exhort that you have the best preaching you get. You get the best preaching.

No, no, that's not where he begins in terms of opening up conduct that is appropriate for the house of God. Guess where Paul starts? He starts with prayer. Spurgeon was once asked the secret for his success.

There's no secret. My people pray. There's no secret at all. My people pray.

It's not formulaic in the sense of 2 plus 2 is 4 every single time, but it's kind of formulaic. You do what God calls you to do, you be faithful, and it's typically in that arena that you experience blessing. Right? Again, I don't want to reduce it to health, wealth, and prosperity, put 50 cents in and out pops your Coke.

That's not what I'm suggesting. But I am suggesting that faithfulness on the part of God's people, more often than not, and there are exceptions, all of us can say, you know, I was faithful in that instance, but man, it didn't work out well. Hey, that happens. That's the price of doing business in God's world.

He is mysterious in his ways. We don't have, you know, the ability to explore the infinite. But for the most part, when we do what he calls us to do, when husbands love their wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her, and when wives submit to their own husbands as unto the Lord, how does that household work? Typically pretty good.

Typically nice, they're not throwing coffee cups at each other, not, you know, running around and chasing each other and, you know, hope you never come home or whatever it might be. Usually, again, usually, not always, listen to the qualification, when we do what God says, there's typically blessing. That's the foundation of the book of Proverbs, certainly Proverbs. There are some you can probably test and try and say, you know, I was that way, but it didn't work.

They're maxims, they're principles. They are basic truths about God's moral universe. When the church takes seriously her churchly task, God blesses. So prayer, chapter two, verse one.

Now notice in 2 Timothy two, verse one. You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses. Commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Timothy, it's not gonna end with you.

Timothy, it's not gonna stop with you. As Paul passes the baton to Timothy, Timothy must pass that baton to his fellows. He must be in that capacity of seeking men out, cultivating those men, trying or testing those men, and then bringing those men into the eldership, into the pastoral ministry, such that they can preach and teach the word of the living God. Now, secondly, in terms of the compassion of Christ, he sees the multitudes, he knows the problems of the multitudes, and he addresses those specific issues.

Brethren, that is very encouraging. It may not be the case that all of our civil authority will be marched off and put into prison. We may have some challenges ahead. But there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

They can never strip us from the hand of the Savior. If that doesn't encourage our hearts for perseverance, I don't know what there is. The Lord is moved with compassion for the multitudes and he takes action to remedy the problem. We see his compassion and maybe some of us don't want to go here, but thirdly, what about the compassion of his people?

Do we think his thoughts after him? Are we concerned with the same sorts of things that we see Christ concerned with in his earthly ministry? We have to have a proper diagnosis of the problem. Brethren, it's obvious.

Bad religious teaching messes people up. It's just that easy, or simple. Bad religious teaching messes people up. We have to diagnose the problem.

What are the issues? Ryle says, what are our feelings when we see such a sight? The sheep scattered having no shepherd. This is a question that should arise in our minds.

There are many such to be seen on every side. There are millions of idolaters and heathen on earth, millions of deluded Mahatma tents, millions of superstitious Roman Catholics. There are thousands of ignorant Protestants near our own doors. He'd probably change that to millions nowadays.

If it were thousands in the 1800s, you know, we could probably count on millions nowadays. He says, do we feel tenderly concerned about their souls? Do we deeply pity their spiritual destitution? Do we long to see that destitution relieved?

That's a great question. Ryan will need to ask that. I need to ask that. Mike needs to ask that.

Any pastor, any preacher worth his salt has to ask that. Am I really concerned about the fact that sinners are perishing and heading to hell? Does that affect me? Does that move me?

Does that cause me to want to study more and pray more and preach more? Those are things that are appropriate to pastoral ministry, to the missionary enterprise. If we're not thinking Christ's thoughts after Him, if we're not moved to compassion with the weariness and the batteredness of the humanity before us, what good are we? We could go do a billion other things.

But an earmark of the ministry is to have that fellow feeling with our Savior. He fellow feels with us. He sympathizes with us. We need to think alongside of Him and have that compassion for the multitudes.

And then as well, the proper perspective concerning the situation. The harvest truly is plentiful. The harvest truly is multitudinous. The harvest is about every tongue, every tribe, every people, every nation.

Of course we pray for our local church. Of course we pray for the churches we're in communion with. Of course we pray for other faithful churches in our town. We pray for all of Canada. but we pray to the uttermost parts of the earth and for the uttermost parts of the earth, that God the Lord in his mercy and in his grace would raise men up, equip those men, get them identified in their churches and get them sent out so they can engage in the warfare of calling sinners to faith and repentance.

Brethren, let us imitate the Savior in this. Let us be likewise moved with compassion over the multitudes who have no shepherd, and let us preach to them, the great shepherd, the good shepherd, the one who laid down his life for the sheep, and tell them that everyone who comes to him in faith will have everlasting life.

Closing Prayer

Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this section of Holy Scripture and the emphasis that we find in terms of the compassion of our Savior in the remedy prescribed by the Savior in terms of prayer, in terms of raising men up, in terms of sending them out. Again, we thank you and we praise you for your provision in our own lives, in our own church. We thank you for Ryan.

We thank you for Mike. We thank you for these brethren in Honduras and Dryden. And God, we thank you for those in our town that are faithful servants of the Lord God Most High. May you bless your servants, and may you send forth your glorious word.

And as we sang, pity the nations, O our God, and constrain the earth to come. For we know that our blessed Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, does save, and he saves gloriously and wondrously, and for the glory of our great God. And we pray now in his most blessed name, amen. We'll close our worship by singing 564. 564, we'll stand as we sing together. ♪ Blessed be the home of the God of Israel ♪ ♪ Who only to Him our rest returns in glory and excel ♪ ♪ Who only to Him our rest returns in glory and excel ♪ Amen.

Amen. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. Father, thank you for corporate worship.

Thank you for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for the fellowship of the saints. And may you be glorified today. May you bring us again together tonight that we may worship you in spirit and truth and rejoice and celebrate in your loving kindness and in your mercy.

And we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Well, please be seated.

Scripture References

• Numbers 27:15-17
• 1 Kings 22:17
• Psalms 2:1-7; 72
• Isaiah 9:6
• Jeremiah 23:1-6
• Micah 5:2-3
• Matthew 5-7; 8-9; 8:10-11; 9:34; 10:1; 14:14; 15:32; 18:27; 20:33-34; 22; 26; 28:18
• John 6:68
• Acts 14:23; 20:28
• Romans 4:13; 9
• 1 Corinthians 1:21
• 1 Timothy 2:1; 3
• 2 Timothy 2:1
• Titus 1
• Hebrews 2:17; 4
• 1 Peter 5
• Revelation 7:9