Compassion of the Holy Spirit – Part 1 Lawson and Aaron Perdue

  Welcome friends to the broadcast. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today. We’re gonna be talking about Jesus and that he had a ministry of compassion. And today we’re specifically gonna show some instances, where he taught with compassion. And when you begin to understand the love of God, and the compassion of Jesus, it will cause you, number one, to run to Jesus, but number two, to be more compassionate. Friends, I’m glad you’re with us today, and we’re gonna be beginning a brand new series today on the compassion of Jesus. You know, recently I read some scriptures, and it just really touched me about the compassion of Jesus. And actually I’ve probably read these no less than 50 times, and yet it just really spoke to me and I began to see things that I never seen. So we’re gonna begin today in Hebrews chapter four, verse 14 through 16, and then we’ll be in Hebrews chapter five, verse one and two. But Aaron, read Hebrews four, verse 14 to 16.

 

  It says, “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points, tempted as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

 

  So Aaron, what are a couple other words we could use for compassion, when we think about it?

 

  I think just unconditional love. Like really having a love that understands what someone’s going through.

 

  Yeah.

 

  Compassion is like an understanding type of love. It’s actually a supernatural thing. The compassion of Jesus, it’s different than just like having pity.

 

  Right.

 

  You know, pity is a very human thing, but the compassion of Jesus, when Jesus would have compassion on people, miracles would happen.

 

  Yeah.

 

  Because it’s a supernatural thing. And he was led by the spirit, and he would be led with that sense of compassion, and one reason why he could have that compassion, whereas, you know, people of other faiths, you know, who they think they serve doesn’t have compassion. You know, we have a God who came to earth in human form, but something really neat about Jesus, he didn’t just come, you know, just as a fully grown adult just came as a conqueror, came 

 

  Right, as a king,

 

  Yeah.

 

  someone in authority

 

  When he came to this earth, he came in the womb.

 

  Right.

 

  You know, so this is actually one main reason why I don’t believe in abortion is because Jesus, when God sent his only begotten son to the earth, he came in the womb, he came as a developing embryo inside of Mary’s womb, which is really, you know, what the, the most vulnerable, the weakest state of all humanity, where you’re completely dependent upon someone else.

 

  Right.

 

  You’re completely, you know, whatever they eat, you know, you’re going to eat. And like it, you know, once, once kids are born, they don’t like what you feed ’em. But when they’re in the womb, that’s when they like what you feed ’em. But Jesus was completely dependent upon, you know, his mother Mary, when he was in the womb just developing and was born, you know, And again, he wasn’t born in a palace, he was born in a manger.

 

  Right.

 

  So he’s able to relate, and have true compassion upon anyone who comes to him.

 

  Right, a lot of people don’t think about this, but along the lines of what you’re saying, you know, Jesus lived as a refugee.

 

  Mmh.

 

  When he was just under two years old, Joseph and Mary took him to Egypt and 

 

  When Herod was slaughtering, you know, young innocents,

 

  Right.

 

  there in the Bethlehem area. So Jesus, you know, he went through the full range of human

 

  Emotion.

 

  emotions, and the human experience. You know, I believe that, you know, he was provided for, you know, there were wise men that came and gave gifts.

 

  Right.

 

  I think they paid the way for them to get to Egypt, but they, you know, his family still dealt with 

 

  Yeah.

 

  that experience of fleeing for their life, experience of moving somewhere they’d never been before. Being around people who don’t speak their own language. Jesus, you know, we have a high priest who can really have true compassion with us.

 

  You know, he came into physical body. He dealt with cold, with heat, with human emotion. On the cross, he took everything, he took all of our sickness, all of our anxiety, all of our poverty. And yet it says here, and I think another word, I like the word you use, unconditional love. I think that’s really talking about, you know, God’s compassion, God’s love, but also the word grace. And it says here that, you know, you talked about he’s not able to be touched with the feelings. We don’t have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He was in every point tempted, he dealt with temptation, like we are, and yet he didn’t sin. He says, let us come boldly because of that to the throne of grace. You know, a a lot of people don’t really realize God rules from a throne of grace. And, you know, we need to, and I think this is the number one thing, when you really begin to get a revelation of the love of God and a revelation of the grace of God, you begin to realize, I can come boldly to God’s throne.

 

  Mmh.

 

  He’s ruling from a throne of grace, and he understands whatever difficulty, or challenge, or problem that I’m going through.

 

  Mmh.

 

  And I think that’s, you know, great, and we need to have that revelation, that we can come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain it says mercy.

 

  Mmh.

 

  Thank God we can obtain mercy, you know, the Bible says that “By mercy, he saved us and washed us with the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.” Titus chapter three, verse five. So, and find grace, we find grace to help in a time of need. It’s like we have needs. Yes, we have, we’re human people. And you know, I know a lot of times I talk about the promises we preach on, and we tell people about tests after they become a testimony. But a lot of times people look at us and they’re like, “Well man, you live this blessed life, but I’m not there.” But you know, that’s available to every person, God is no respect or persons, he’s only a respecter of faith. But there’s gonna be challenges,

 

  Mmh.

 

  that we face in life, so the first thing, I think when you get a revelation of the love of God or the grace of God, it causes you to realize that you can come boldly to God’s throne.

 

  Mmh.

 

  And it’s a throne of grace, and he’s gonna accept you, he’s not gonna run you away. And that’s a lot better than having this mentality that, boy, if I sin, God’s gonna whack me one. Which a lot of people still have that mentality, and they may not think they do, but you watch if somebody like in a visible position does something that they don’t like, then they start throwing judgment. And we’ll see this as we go through the scriptures, how easy it is for a legalist of people to cast judgment. And in Jesus’ life, a lot of the people that were around him were very quick to cast judgment. And you know, the, the Bible says, “Let us be slow to speak and slow to wrath.” You know, and so that’s the first thing. But if we go on, if you go on and read chapter five, verse one and two, notice what it says, another thing, I think, number one, it helps you to realize you can run to Jesus.

 

  Yeah, and I love that Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy in find grace to help in time of need.” You know, all throughout Hebrews, the writer’s comparing the new covenant with Jesus to the old covenant and how everything is better now in the new covenant.

 

  Right.

 

  Everything is better with Jesus. And one thing he kind of brings up in Hebrews, is in the old covenant, the only time you know, a human being could approach, you know, the Holy of Holies, which is where the mercy seat was, it was only the high priest, and it was only one day a year.

 

  Right.

 

  On the day of Atonement on Yom Kippur. But now it says, because of Jesus, we can actually come boldly to the throne of grace. So you can come right straight to the Father, straight to the throne room, straight to that mercy seat.

 

  In time of need.

 

  In time of need.

 

  Wherever you’re in need.

 

  And it’s because you’re coming like the same way that Jesus would approach the Father, you’re actually given the same rights to access the throne room that Jesus has.

 

  So if you think about how Jesus, you know, when he died on the cross and was buried three days, think about how he approached the Father.

 

  You know, I’m sure he didn’t do it timidly, you know, I’m sure he ran right into the throne room ’cause he knew that that’s his place.

 

  He’s one with the father. And that’s the same way that we can now run,

 

  to the Father.

 

  Yeah. Hebrews 10, I think it’s verse 19, says this, “Having therefore boldness brother to enter the holiness by the blood of Jesus.” We can run, come boldly to the throne of grace. And we find help in time of need. And we all have times of need. Now, in chapter five, verse one and two, if you wanna read that.

 

  It says, “For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray since he himself is also subject to weakness.”

 

  So when you look at this, you know, here’s the second thing, number one, when you get a revelation of the love of God or the grace of God, you, you figure out, I can run boldly, I can come boldly to God’s throne. But number two, it makes you more compassionate notice to those who are ignorant, and on them out of the way. Now, out of the way can mean a couple of different things. In the Modern English Version here, it says the wayward. And so, you know, God can have children who are wayward, who went astray. Like, you know, the shepherd went after the lost sheep that went away, right? But it also out of the way could be not saved. And you know, a lot of times, you know, we’re idealistic about how we think the government should be run, how we think, you know, believers should live, so on and so forth. How we think things should be, and you know what? The law was very specific, but at the same point in time, that’s why we needed the gospel. That’s why we needed Jesus. That’s why we needed grace. Because nobody could measure up because of God’s law. You know, the Bible says “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” So that’s why we needed grace. And grace made it available for us to enter God’s presence without guilt, or fear, or condemnation. So thank God today for the grace of God, thank God for what he’s already done for us. So I believe, you know, these are the first two things that really happen, when you get a revelation of the love of God for you, or a revelation of the grace of God is number one, you figure out, hey, I can run boldly. And if I fail, instead of running away from Jesus, instead of running away from God, I run to God, in a time of need. But number two, then I become more compassionate to those who are ignorant. You know, there’s people in the world, they’re just ignorant. They just don’t know any better, right? And those who are out of the way, they’re wayward, or maybe they’re not saved. Jesus said, “I’m the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except by me.” Now we’re gonna come back and draw some more light on this, but then we’re gonna begin to talk about the ministry of Jesus. And Jesus’ ministry was a ministry that was marked by compassion. So we’ll be back in just a few seconds. So stay tuned, God bless you. Friends we’ve been teaching on the Ministry of Compassion, and recently I taught this in church, and I feel like this is one of the best teachings that I’ve ever done. And so I want to invite you to go to our website, CharisChristianCenter.com, to download not only the teachings that we do here, live in the studio, but to download the live services from church and watch those. I believe that you’ll be blessed. You know what, I’ve had a lot of opportunities along the line, to get discouraged, to get disappointed, to quit believing, but there’s one thing I know, I’m gonna keep believing God. The fact is God said it and that settles it. And you can believe it and begin to receive it, or you can doubt it and do without it. But God said it and that settles it. Friends, I’m glad you stayed with us. We were talking about when you get a revelation of the love of God, a couple of things happen. Number one, when you mess up, you figure out I can run to Jesus. And that, you know, if you don’t have a revelation of the love of God, and if you’ve been preached this law type ministry, that anytime you mess up, it separates you from God, so people run from God. That’s what happened in the Old Testament, when people had such a knowledge of their sin, it actually drove them from God and not to God. So the second thing we said is this high priest Jesus can have compassion on ignorant people. Ignorance is not blessed. The Bible says that “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.” In Hosea chapter four, verse six, it says in Isaiah five, verse 13 that “They’re kept in because they have no knowledge.” However, when you get a revelation of the love of God, the compassion of Jesus, the grace of God, you can have compassion on ignorant people. And you know, there’s a lot of ignorant people in the world, and sometimes we’re idealistic. We think, boy, it needs to be this way, and you know, I admit to you, there’s a lot of times I think it needs to be this way or it should be, or this is really a mess. But God understands, Jesus understands us, and we can have compassion on ignorant people, people that are not saved and people, that may have strayed from the way. So we thank God for the grace of God, and the compassion of Jesus.

 

  I was thinking of a kind of innate scripture from Colossians three,

 

  that kind of relates to this, and I think it’s actually a great scripture for people in a leadership role where people are kind of questioning you, and, you know, your leadership, maybe you’re a parent, and like one of your kids is questioning how you parent, something like that. But this is from Colossians three, verse 12 through 14.

 

  It says, “Therefore, as the elect of God,” I love that as the elect of God,

 

  Yeah we’re 

 

  “holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another.” I love that, you know, it’s kind of mentioning the fruit of the spirit,

 

  Right

 

  “Forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another.” You know, sometimes in a leadership role, especially if, you know, in the church world, there’s a lot of complaints. And that’s kind of a trigger subject for me. When people complain about something that they don’t really understand, it bothers me. You know, sometimes people have complaints about very small things, but I like that it says “Someone has a complaint,” like you need to still operate in forgiveness “even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.” You know, people complained against Jesus too. Like, you know, when the woman with the alabaster box, you know, had this like one of the most beautiful offerings in scripture, people complained about that.

 

  You know, there were people complaining about who he, you know, ate dinner with. He got a lot of complaints. “But as Christ forgave you, so you also must do, but above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”

 

  And that really helps me too ’cause sometimes people complain about something at church that I think is very small thing, and they just don’t really understand all the hard work that goes into something. You know, people might, you know, complain about a song that they don’t really like, you know, on the music team, but they don’t really like realize that the music team, they’re practicing, you know, they have a lot more expertise than the average person, and put in a lot more time than the average person. So when people make complaints that sometimes,

 

  Oh, music is so subjective.

 

  You know, we’ve had people come here and complain in years past, not recently, but about the worship, and, and we ask them, “What kind of music do you like?” “Well, I like barbershop quartet.” Well, you and two other people in the church. And it’s just not reality. And, you know, and so, you know, we like our songs to be scriptural, we like ’em to be gospel centered. You know, and there’s a lot of Christian songs that aren’t real scriptural, that aren’t real gospel center. We also don’t like songs that really play into a victim type mentality. Because we are not victors in Christ or victims, we are victors, and so we’re blessed, we’re world overcomers, you know, we’re chosen, so on and so forth. But there’s a lot of songs that are kind of not written from that perspective. They’re written from somebody’s feelings when they were going through a difficulty or a challenge. But we’ve gotta look at the answer rather than the problem. So thank God for, I love that scripture, and it actually says in the King James in verse 14, “Put on charity, put on the love of God, which is the bond of maturity.” And you know, you can tell how mature somebody is by how well they love, not how much they complain.

 

  Yeah sometimes people who think themselves to be prophetic, or think themselves to be spiritual, can sometimes be some of the most judgmental type people.

 

  But really, really, I think that, you know, like, like you’re saying, the mark of maturity is how much you love,

 

  that’s a great mark of maturity, so. so, you know, we try to do the right thing, we try to live with a good conscience before God, we try to, you know, be involved in support Christian things and not be involved in things that are, you know, woke, so on and so forth. But there’s just some of that in the world, and you might be involved in some of it yourself and not even realize it. So, you know, so thank God. And you know, if you tried to stay away from all the evil in the world, you’d probably have to leave the world. And you know, Jesus said in John 17, “I didn’t come to take you out of the world, I came to keep you from the evil.” And so, you know, there’s just a lot of corruption, but he says, when we get a revelation of the love of God, it causes number one to run to Jesus when we have needs. And number two, to have compassion on people who are ignorant and people who are out of the way. Maybe they’re unsaved or they’re wayward. They’re God’s children, they’re born again, but they’ve, they’ve went astray. And you know, one of the first things that I wanted to bring out is that Jesus taught with compassion. And we can see this in the scripture. I’ve never actually, I’ve read this again many times, but I’ve never really seen this. But I’ve seen that Jesus ministered with compassion, how he was moved with compassion, and healed the sick, and worked miracles. But right here it says in Mark 6:34, “Jesus, when he came out, saw many people, and was moved with compassion toward them because they were a sheep not having a shepherd. and he began to teach them many things.” It was the compassion of God, that motivated Jesus to teach people, the truth. You know, the Bible actually talks about this in Ephesians, I think it’s chapter four, verse 15 or 16, but he says, “Speak the truth in love.” You know, we gotta speak the truth enfolded in love with the purpose of edifying people. So Jesus, you know, when he saw them, he was moved with compassion and began to teach the word of God. And Jesus’ teaching was full of compassion. Jesus’ teaching was quite different than the legalistic law teaching of the day. And there’s a couple of examples that we can see in the scripture, one of them is in Luke chapter 10, we have the Parable of the Good Samaritan. And when you talk about the parable of the Good Samaritan, it’s found in verse 25 through verse 37. But when Jesus talked about this Good Samaritan, one of these legalistic people came to him and said, you know, “Master, what do you say that I should do to inherit eternal life? And he said, well, what does the law say? And he said, love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your might and all your strength, and with your mind and love your neighbor as yourself. And Jesus said, so all of your inside, all of your soul, and all your body, everything you got, and Jesus said, that’s right, do that and you’ll live. But he trying to justify himself said to Jesus, who is my neighbor? And Jesus began to tell him about a certain man that was going from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he fell among thieves,” if you’ve ever been there and went on that road, it’s a desert. And there’s this huge canyon, and there’s a creek that’s cut that canyon in there. And at the bottom of that, they call that the Valley of the Shadow of Death. And in the times Jesus lived, when they were going from Jerusalem to Jericho, they would have to go down into that canyon, to get water for their livestock or themselves. And did you know, they were taking their lives. Thieves would stay there and hide and wait to kill ’em. And so he says, this person fell among thieves, and a Levite came by, and he’s like, “You know what the law says, you can’t touch somebody like that,” right? And he went by on one side, a priest came said, “I’m a priest, I can’t get myself unclean, I can’t touch this,” you know, he went by on the other side. And this Samaritan came down there, who the Jews consider to be dogs, and took the man and poured in oil and wine, bound up his wounds, put him on his donkey, took him to an inn, a motel, paid for a couple of nights, and gave him money to take care of him. And said, “Hey, if it takes more to get him back on the road when I come back, I’ll pay you the rest. Take care of this guy.” And Jesus said, who was his neighbor? So that demonstrated compassion. Jesus taught with compassion. Another example of Jesus teaching, having compassion is, you know, the parable of the loving Father in Luke chapter 15. And Luke really focuses on this human side, I think, which has that compassion. But you know, this prodigal son, younger son, went his way, wasted his father’s money with riotus living, asked for his inheritance early, came to nothing. And was, you know, in a foreign country feeding hogs, which was an insult to a Jewish person. And he, you know, would’ve been eating the corn husk with the hogs. I mean, you can’t get much lower than that. I’ve slopped hog before, and they’re dirty animals you eat in slop. We used to take what they called a diaper bale, and we’d throw all the leftover eggshells and watermelon, all the junk stuff, and we’d throw that out to the chickens. My grandma had chickens. And man, it would stink or they’d slop the hogs. My other grandparents had hogs. I mean, it is disgusting. And this is where he came to. And the Bible says, “He came to himself and said, you know what? A lot of my father’s servants at home have plenty of food to eat. And I’m gonna go, and I’m gonna repent. I’m gonna say, father, I’ve sinned against heaven, and in your sight, can I just be as one of your servants?” And you know what, he was coming down the road and his father was watching and ran to meet him. And really before he could even get the confession out of his mouth, you know, then before he could get this confession out of his mouth, he just, you know, the father just said, “Hey, bring the best robe and put it on him.” I mean, the son confessed, but he’s like, “Bring my ring, robe, put it on him.” That represents righteousness that’s in the kingdom. Bring my ring, put it on his hand, that represents authority. Bring shoes and put it on. That means you got places to go and things to do. So, and for my son, who is dead, is alive again. And the one who’s lost has come home. And, you know, he talks about the parable of the shepherd with a hundred sheep, and one goes astray. And the shepherd, you know, goes after that one sheep to bring him back. And that is who Jesus is. He is the good shepherd. He is the shepherd giving his life for the sheep. So Jesus’ teaching was filled with compassion, and compassion, motivated him to teach, compassion motivated him to minister, and just like Jesus was moved com with compassion, we need to be moved by the love of God, moved by compassion.

 

  Yeah and some people try to appear to be compassionate, but they really aren’t. You know, I’ve met some people who, you know, wanna be very compassionate, you know, and come across as very compassionate, but then sometimes to like their own leaders, their own pastors, they just complain all the time and don’t have any grace at all towards them or really want to help them. So I think when you really understand God’s compassion, let it flow through you, it impacts a lot of people,

 

  Amen

 

  it affects a lot of people.

 

  Amen, so we’re gonna be sharing all this week. We’ve got some great things that I’ve never seen in the scripture. You wanna stay tuned, tell your friends about the broadcast. If you need prayer today, we have trained prayer ministers. They’re here, they’re ready to take your calls, minister to you. And I just wanna say thank you to our partners for helping us make this program available. We have lots of free things on the internet, so give us a call or check us out on the web. Blessings.

 

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