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God’s Love is Compassionate Hey, how many of you guys remember the Beatitudes of Jesus? You know, where he says, “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth” and “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” Do you remember? Well, have you guys ever wondered if the devil has his own set of beatitudes? I mean, doesn’t it make sense that he’d have his own list of behavior that he appreciates? Well, by cracky, I came across that list. 1. Blessed are the troublemakers – They shall be called my children. 2. Blessed are the complainers – I’m all ears to them. 3. Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy, too distracted to spend an hour once a week with their fellow Christians – They are my best workers. 4. Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked and expect to be thanked – I can use them. 5. Blessed are the touchy who stop going to Church services – They are my missionaries. 6. Blessed are those who are bored with the minister’s mannerisms and mistakes – For they get nothing out of his sermons. 7. Blessed is the Church member who expects to be invited to his own Church – For he is a part of the problem instead of the solution. 8. Blessed are those who gossip – For they shall cause strife and divisions that please me.

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9. Blessed are those who are easily offended – For they will soon get angry and quit. 10.Blessed are those who don’t give of their time to carry on God’s work – For they are my helpers. 11.Blessed is he who professes to love God but hates his brother and sister – For he shall be with me forever. 12.Blessed are you who, when you read this think it is about other people and not yourself – I’ve got you too! Now folks, I don’t know about you, but if there really was a list of the devil’s Beatitudes, I’d say those would be pretty close, how about you? But folks, believe it or not, I’ve discovered one that’s been left off the list. It goes something like this. Blessed are those who say they’re powerful Christians yet live their lives like practical atheists. Oh, we say we believe in God, but half the time, by our lips and by our lives, we act like He’s not there. And this not only keeps us from growing in our own walk with God, but it also keeps others from believing in God. Therefore, to avoid this irony of Christian’s living like a practical atheists by not knowing Who God Is, we’re going to continue in our study from the Word of God on the Character of God entitled, “Who Is God?” We’ve already seen that the very first thing we need to know about God is that God Is Real. The second thing we need to know is that God Is Personal. The third thing we need to know is that God Is Wise. The

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fourth thing we need to know is that God Is Powerful. The fifth thing we need to know is that God is Holy. And last time we saw that the sixth thing we need to know about God is that God Is Love. And there we saw that God reveals what true love is like by Giving us Mercy. And there we saw that out of mercy God will give His enemies a Palace in Heaven instead of a Pit in Hell, a Body of Perfection instead of a Body of Pain and a Heavenly Greeting instead of a Hellish Goodbye. And I don’t know about you, but I’d say that’s an awesome kind of love, don’t you think? But folks, believe it or not, that’s not the only way the Bible reveals that God Is Love. The second way the Bible reveals that God Is Love is that God Gives Us Compassion. But hey, don’t take my word for it. Let’s listen to God’s. Luke 15:11-24 “Jesus continued: There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and

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against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men. So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate.” Now folks, what we have here in our text is simply the famous prodigal son story, right? And what you’ve got to understand is that it’s not just a story about the son’s need of forgiveness but of a father’s incredible compassion. You see, the word “compassion” comes from the Greek word “splanchna.” It literally means “to be moved in one’s inwards or bowels.” It was the metaphor of that day to speak of the seat of affection or emotions. For instance, today, we would say we are moved in our heart for someone. But back then they would say they were moved in their bowels for someone. So guys, next time you want to show compassion to your wife you can just say, “Hey baby, you move me in my bowels.” Actually, if you do, you might end up attending the marriage course coming up! But seriously, “splanchna” or “compassion” here wasn’t just an emotional feeling. But get this, it was “a loving action generated out of pity.” And folks, this is exactly what we see with this father here. Out of pity he refrained from

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giving his son what he really deserved, right? I mean, stop and think about it. If your son basically told you to hurry up and die so he can have his inheritance, and that’s what’s going on here folks, and then he went off and blew the whole thing in sinful living and came back, what would you do? You wouldn’t give him the fatted calf. Are you kidding? You’d give him the fatted casket, right? But not this father! No! What’d he do? He showed compassion for his son! And not by just having pity for him, but he threw a party for him! Can you believe that? Is that love or what? But herein lies our problem. You see, we live in a society that no longer pleads for the compassion of God. People, today no longer think they’re pitiful. No! They think they’re wonderful. They don’t think they need pity from God. They think they’re owed a party from God! But people, as we saw in the last chapter, if we got what was owed to us, what would we get? A pit in hell, a body of pain, and a hellish goodbye, right? And folks, I don’t know about you, I’d rather have pity than that kind of party! Therefore, in order to better appreciate the love of God, I think we’d better take a closer look at the compassion of God, how about you? And folks, it’s pretty simple. The first way the Bible reveals the Compassionate Love of God is that He Died for Those Who Wanted Him Dead.

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Luke 23:32-34 “Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him. Finally, they came to a place called The Skull. All three were crucified there – Jesus on the center cross, and the two criminals on either side. Jesus said, Father, forgive these people, because they don’t know what they are doing.” Now folks, according to our text, the Bible is clear. Jesus was not only killed on the cross between two criminals, but He was put there because people considered Him one. Can you imagine the sinfulness of that? I mean, here we have God Himself coming to the earth to save the lost but they rejected Him and placed Him on the cross! He came to bring us all life but people wanted to take His life. They wanted Him dead! Can you believe that? Talk about sin! But people, believe it or not, the American Church has committed an even bigger sin than that! How? By becoming numb to this amazing act of the love of God. People, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but we have long forgotten the true meaning of the cross! For your information, the cross is not just a Christian religious symbol to hang around your neck! It was a horrible instrument of suffering and death! The cross was the firing squad, the hangman’s noose, the gas chamber of our day. It was the means of which to execute the worst of criminals. Yet Jesus was not a criminal! He was the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. He who knew no sin voluntarily died to take away our sin. Even the sin of putting Him up on the

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cross! Why? Out of pity, out of compassion, to keep us from getting what we deserve. And lest we think this was an easy thing to do, let’s take a look at Jesus’ last minutes on the cross from a medical perspective. “As Jesus slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating fiery pain shoots through His fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain. The nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. Therefore, as he pushes himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he places the full weight on the nail through his feet. But this causes a searing agony as the nail tears through the nerves between the bones of his feet. Then His arms get fatigued, cramps sweep through His muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. And with these cramps come the inability to push Himself upward to breathe. Air can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. So Jesus fights to raise himself in order to get even one small breath. In spasms He’s able to push himself upward to exhale and get more oxygen but each time its less and less. He experiences hours of horrible pain, as the tissue is torn from his lacerated back trying to move up and down against the rough timber just so He can breathe. But then another agony arrives. A deep crushing pain in the chest begins as the area around His heart slowly fills with serum and begins to compress His heart. It’s almost over. The loss of fluids has reached a critical level. The heart is struggling to pump blood as the tortured lungs make a frantic effort to gasp small gulps of air. He can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues.” And finally Jesus can allow His body to die but not before saying this, “Father forgive them! For they know not what they do!”

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Now folks, I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t seem to be a very fun way to die. I mean, who in their right mind would volunteer to die like that, especially for people who wanted you dead! But folks, that’s exactly what Jesus did! He came to die for those who wanted Him dead! Talk about the love of God! We all deserve to die and go straight to hell but through the cross of Christ we can be forgiven and go straight to heaven! Can you believe it? And to think that it’s not only free for the asking, but we don’t deserve it! Now that’s what I call love! Oswald Chambers put it like this. “All heaven is interested in the cross of Christ, all hell is terribly afraid of it, while men are the only beings who more or less ignore its meaning.” And why is his statement so true? Well, it’s simple folks. When you and I realize that we all deserve to be crucified ourselves on the cross for all our sins yet out of compassion God crucified His Son instead, it’s kind of impossible to ignore, you know what I mean? Why? Because that’s what happens when you truly begin to understand the Compassionate Love of God. Oh, but that’s not all. The second way the Bible reveals the Compassionate Love of God is that He Continually Forgives Our Continual Sins. Hebrews 7:24-25 “But because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”

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Now folks, according to our text, the Bible is clear. Jesus not only died on the cross to forgive us of our sins, but He always lives to intercede for our sins. And do you have any idea the significance of that statement? People, its not just that God Himself came to the earth to die for our sins. That’s only half of it. Get this. He continually forgives our continual sins. The One who died for those who wanted Him dead not only forgives them once, but again and again! Isn’t that incredible? I mean, let’s put it in its context. For instance, let’s go back to the prodigal son story. There we saw how that father demonstrated an amazing amount of compassion to his son, right? He didn’t give him what he deserved. He gave him a party, right? But now imagine that after the party and they ate the fatted calf, the son went off the next month and did it again. And then he went out the next week and did it again. And then he went out the next day and did it again! And he kept on doing it! I mean, come on! If most of us were that father we’d be tempted to say, “Okay pal, this is the fourth time I’ve killed the fatted calf this week. Hello! What’s your problem here! Cows don’t grow on trees!” Right? But people, believe it or not, this is exactly what God does for you and I every single day. And He never runs out of cows! Why? Because Jesus is always interceding on our behalf!

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And people, this means that Jesus not only died to save us from our sins but get this. He does it so we can be presented to the Father as if we had never sinned! Is that a mind-blower or what? Why? Because people stop and think about it. Who in their right mind would not only forgive those who wanted you dead, but get this, keep on forgiving them again and again. Why? So you can present them to God as if they never sinned in the first place! Can you believe it? But folks, that’s exactly what Jesus did! And to think that it’s not only free for the asking, but we don’t deserve it! Now that’s what I call love! That’s what I call compassion. And it’s the same level of compassion this father showed for these people. “There was a man who had the responsibility of operating a drawbridge that spanned a river. And so when a steamboat came by he would put the bridge up, then lower it so that a train could cross when it came by. Well, one day, he brought his son to work; and together they watched the bridge go up to let a steamer go through but when it was time to lower the bridge, his son was nowhere to be found. But just then the father heard the cries of his son and he saw to his horror that the boy was caught in the massive gears that controlled the movement of the bridge. Then to make matters worse. A train whistle blew which meant only one thing. A trainload of people was on its way. And so in a split moment the father realized had a decision to make. To save his son he would have to raise the bridge once more; but, if he were to do that, the train would go into the river killing many people. So with his heart wrenching, the father made his decision.

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He voluntarily chose to lower the bridge and crush his boy. And a moment later the train whizzed by and the passengers waved at the man, totally oblivious to the price he had just paid for their life.” Now folks, that’s one of the closest stories I’ve ever heard to illustrate what God did for us when He sent Jesus to die on the cross. But there’s one missing element. Yes, God too chose let His Son die for others. But it wasn’t for a trainload of wonderful people. It was a trainload of people who hated His guts, nailed Him on a cross and who even after being saved have the audacity to keep on sinning again and again and again! People of God, may we never ever whiz by in this life totally oblivious to what God has done for you and I! Remember, He didn’t have to and we certainly don’t deserve it! And that’s why if we can’t seem to appreciate that Jesus died for those who wanted Him dead and continually forgives our continual sins, then something is terribly wrong with us! Why? Because if we had any idea of the depths of God’s love, not a day would go by where we didn’t praise His Holy Name and tell everyone we meet to do the same! Why? Because that’s what happens when you truly begin to understand the Compassionate Love of God. And people this is the awesome message we get to tell to the nations, “God not only exists, but through Jesus Christ people really can have an intimate personal relationship with the Creator of the universe before it’s

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too late!” But people, I’m telling you, if the world is ever going to believe our message, then we’ve got to stop acting like practical atheists. We’ve got to start demonstrating by our lips as well as our lives that God is Love! ________________________________________________________ To find the way to God, to understand the truth of God's Word, and to received the gift of eternal life, begin by repentance and faith through a prayer like this: “Dear God, I understand that I have broken Your Law and sinned against You. Please forgive my sins. Thank You that Jesus suffered on the cross in my place. I now place my trust in Him as My Savior and Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.” ___________________________________________________________