Bill Link - Class 4: Moved with Compassion
September 22, 2019 46 min
Class 4 from Bro. Bill Link’s series on Portraits of the Master.
Class 1 from this series was used for GCT Episode 038.
Topics
Scripture references
Also referenced: 15 more passages
Transcript 78 sections, automatically transcribed
Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.
- 0:00
This is day four of the 2017 Idaho Bible School. Our third period teacher is Brother Bill Link. His general topic is Portraits of the Master. Today's topic is Moved with Compassion. Brother Bill. Good morning, everyone. Gosh, it's good to be with you. This has been a good week. I'm really, I'm benefiting by your fellowship and by knowing that we're all working towards the same goals.
- 0:30
The compassion of our master is a really powerful topic. And I'd like us to start this morning in the letter to the Hebrews, chapter five. You'll excuse me if I say Paul when I mean to say the writer to the Hebrews. I think it was Paul, but we can talk about that later.
- 0:55
Chapter five is a chapter that I think is a really good one for us in our understanding of the person of Jesus. It's a useful one if you can get someone to work through the details of it in understanding the nature of Christ and the distinction between Jesus and his father. We've read earlier from chapter four, the well-known verses 14 to 16 about Jesus, who is a high priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities so that we therefore can come with confidence to the throne of grace knowing that he understands. Chapter five goes like this.
- 1:41
For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God. Interesting just to pay attention to the details there. He's ordained for men. This is in God's gracious work with us. That he sets up the system of a high priest who's ordained for our benefit.
- 2:14
That he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. Who can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way. That's interesting. You can have compassion on the ignorant and have you ever had the experience of sinning ignorantly? And I don't mean that we're completely unaware, but sometimes we do something and afterwards we feel like, oh, why did I say that wrong thing? How could I have done such a wrong thing when it was more a matter of just that you weren't thinking clearly? But then it's not just on the ignorant, it's also on them that are out of the way. And why? For that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And by reason hereof, he must. That's what ought means in King James English. Must. Ought's one of these things nowadays. It's like, yeah, I ought to do that. King James ought is he must. He must also, as for the people, so also for himself to offer for sins. And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.
- 3:33
So also Christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest. But he that said unto him, thou art my son, and today have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplication.
- 3:58
That's interesting to connect that back with verse verse 3 about him offering for sins. Same word. When he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared. Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. He had to learn obedience through the things that he suffered, learned compassion. He is a great high priest. And so we can come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and help to find, and grace to help in time of need. Just thought I'd bring your attention to the 84th Psalm. And I have some really lovely passage at the end of it about God giving grace to us. It's a Psalm about wanting to be in the house of God. And some of you might have seen me wandering around with my camera outside taking pictures of birds. I love birds, and bird photography is my my big hobby. And I love this verse 3. Starting at the beginning, How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars.
- 5:49
O Lord of hosts, my King and my God, blessed are they that dwell in thy house. They shall be still praising thee. The part, though, that I wanted to bring your attention is the last two verses. The Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.
- 6:22
It's funny how we tend to qualify things. Like, I read verse 11. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. And I say, well, that rules me out. But the fact of the matter is it rules all of us out. It rules everybody out except for Jesus, doesn't it? And so, does the verse mean nothing at all? Is it an empty statement? Well, verse 12 says, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.
- 6:52
And we can trust in God. And that's certainly the first step in walking uprightly. And having confidence that he won't withhold any good thing from us. He's a sun and a shield. He'll give grace and he'll give glory. He'll give favor and honor, the Revised Standard Version.
- 7:14
So our high priest is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. And the word touched translates a word from which our word sympathy derives, the senses of suffering together. So in chapter 10, of Hebrews, verse 34, Paul talks about his audience having had compassion of him in his bonds, which is no doubt a reference to their care and their prayers and their letters and their presence sent to him in prison. A real closely related word in chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians, when it says, when one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. When one member is honored, all rejoice with it.
- 7:58
So this is the Lord we come to remember, whose portraits we're bringing into our mind. A Lord who's touched with the feeling of our infirmities. There's a word in the Gospels. Actually, this word only occurs in the Gospels. It occurs five times in Matthew, four in Mark, and three in Luke. And it has to do literally with, I guess, the guts. It's apparently comes from the word for the spleen or the, whatever, all the innards. And you know how sometimes we have the sense of when something's gut wrenching, that we actually do have a physical kind of reaction to things. The King James translates this word as moved with compassion. Some of the modern versions, most of them in fact, simply say he had compassion. But I have a commentary, the West word studies in the New Testament. And it says, the King James here is an excellent rendering of the Greek and is most descriptive. So I have a demonstration of the phenomenon that I'm going to show you in a minute.
- 9:19
First come to Mark chapter six. We've spoken about this episode earlier. When Jesus needs to be alone with his disciples, he's got the word that John the Baptist, John the Baptist of whom he says, of those born of women, there's nobody greater. John the Baptist has been ruthlessly murdered by the machinations of Herodias.
- 9:55
Herod was afraid of John, but Herodias wasn't. And when the opportunity presented herself in that drunken birthday party, when he says, up to half my kingdom, whatever you want, bring me the head of John the Baptist in a charger. After that, Jesus and the disciples need to be alone. They go away. Mark chapter six,
- 10:26
verse 30. The apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus and told him all things with what they'd done and what they'd taught. And he said unto them, come ye yourselves apart unto a desert place and rest a while. For there were many coming and going and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they departed into a desert ship, a place by ship privately. And the people saw them departing and many knew him and ran a foot thither out of all cities and out went them and came together unto him. And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people and was moved with compassion toward them because they were as sheep, not having a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
- 11:18
I don't know about you brothers and sisters, but I can understand the notion of compassion for one person. But crowds, this massive, massive crowd, and Jesus had compassion on them all. He was moved with compassion. And I have a demonstration here where I'm going to get you all to be moved with compassion.
- 11:42
This is a guaranteed to work. I have here a very, very tart lemon that brother Jeff Ramirez was kind enough to supply me with. I asked him if he could have me a couple of lemons. And this is now my second demonstration of this. I did it with the teens. And I know that Jeff didn't go out and get sweet lemons.
- 12:07
He got the very tart kinds. And I'm going to peel this here lemon and I'm going to take a big bite of it. And I can just imagine that as I do this, that already you are beginning to be moved with compassion.
- 12:26
And in the back of your jaw, right about here, there's this excruciating feeling because you all are being moved with compassion. It's like a physical reaction. So I'm going to take, now keep your eyes on me. As I take a bite.
- 12:58
I just keep getting better. Anybody want some? So you all have, this is sort of turned it around sideways. There's a small multitude been able to have compassion on one me. Nobody has a stick to the jaw quality to it today.
- 13:37
With Jesus, it was the other way around. He can have compassion on a multitude. It's amazing that he, and when he was so exhausted, when he could have said, look, I'm tapped out. I need a break.
- 13:52
He didn't. He was moved with compassion. He was also compassionate on individuals. There's some people who are maybe naturally better with big groups and maybe less good with small groups. But Jesus had compassion on an individual. We're here in Mark 7. Turn over to chapter 10. And we find there another occasion where he's being swarmed by crowds.
- 14:16
Verse 46 says he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people. Matthew says it was a great multitude. And at the same time, he's busy dealing with his disciples who are yet again arguing about who's going to be the greatest. Mark 10, verses 35 to 37, report that James and John were asking for preeminence. Matthew adds a detail that makes it even a little bit more cringeworthy, that it was actually Salome, their mother, who led the request with her sons in tow. And then we get to verse 41 of Mark 10. And it says, when the 10 heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John. And so Jesus' response to them, verse 43, And he immediately demonstrates his capacity for compassion. He's accompanied by a great multitude as he leaves Jericho, and there are two men crying out for his attention. The crowd shushes them, verse 48. But Jesus stops and calls them. And in Matthew's account, not here in Mark, but in Matthew, it says Jesus had compassion on them. He was moved with compassion. He touched their eyes, and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him. It was a demonstration that Jesus was not only concerned about crowds, but also individuals. And that's reassuring for me. It should be reassuring for you. It's not just the collective body of Christ, but it's us as individuals as well.
- 16:23
There are a couple other episodes of Jesus' compassion on an individual that I want us to think about. We made passing reference to one of them in the first class when we were talking about the Lord's hands. It's the healing of the leper that's recorded in all of the synoptic gospels. We're going to look at Luke chapter five.
- 16:57
It's worth noting that this healing of the leper occurs early in Jesus' ministry. Notice, for instance, it's Luke chapter five. It's right after Luke four, where we have the temptation in the wilderness, followed by Jesus' dramatic exposition of Isaiah 61 in the synagogue. So Luke four.
- 17:25
Verse 16 says about him coming to Nazareth. He goes into the synagogue as it was his custom on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. This is verse 16. Now verse 17. There was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah. When he'd opened the book, he found the place where it was written, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
- 17:52
He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. There was a mix of enthusiasm and doubt about Jesus. Jesus foretold that he wouldn't be received well in his own hometown. Verse 24, he said, Verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.
- 18:47
But I tell you of a truth. Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land. But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisius the prophet. And none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
- 19:18
And it wasn't too long after this, that Jesus himself was confronted by a leper. I don't know when I made that connection, but right here in chapter 4, he says, he says there were a lot of lepers, but it wasn't, it was Naaman. He wasn't even a Jew. And it wasn't too long after speaking these words, Luke chapter 5, verse 12.
- 19:49
We're not told exactly where it was, but it seems that it was, he was already departed from his own hometown and up in the north in Galilee. Verse 12 of chapter 5 says, it came to pass when he was in a certain city. Behold a man full of leprosy, who seeing Jesus fell on his face and besought him saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Mark says he kneeled. Matthew says he worshiped.
- 20:23
Luke says, when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him. Lord, if you want, if you're willing, you can make me clean.
- 20:40
Leprosy was a pretty nasty disease. And this man's was a bad case. Notice chapter 5, verse 12 says he was full of leprosy, covered with it. It was horrible to look at. The man would have been banned from society and required to keep his distance. You kind of wonder whether he'd been keeping track of Jesus' movements from afar and finally seeing an opportunity rush forward. Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean. And Jesus' remarkable answer, I am willing. Be cleansed. But there was more to it than that.
- 21:31
Verse 13 of chapter 5, he put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. If you want to make me clean, I do want to make you clean. And he touched him.
- 21:47
Man probably hadn't been touched by a healthy person in years. Jesus didn't need to touch him. He could have healed him from afar. But he was moved with compassion. And it was his compassion on the man that had him reach out and touch him. I think what a marvelous man Jesus was. What a marvelous man he was.
- 22:09
And it's striking on a spiritual level, too. When you look at leprosy as such an evident symbol of mortality, it's as if it's like a living death. This man was in such a wretched condition. And sometimes we look at ourselves and we say, you know, I'm in pretty wretched condition, too. Living death, that's what sin does to us.
- 22:38
We have a high priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. There's another portrait of the Lord's compassion that I want to look at. It's in chapter 7 of Luke. It goes from verse 11 to 17. It's the account of the widow of Nain and the death of her son.
- 23:12
Now, before we read it, I'd like as a public service to help our brethren who read from the platform. And I have to confess that I'm 59 years old and I didn't know until not that awful long ago how to pronounce a word in this verse. And I would say that if you use the New King James Bible, and it says that they were carrying an open coffin that you're cheating.
- 23:39
They were carrying a platform on which a coffin. And the platform is spelled B-I-E-R. And it's a word that's used in most of our translations. And I was 59 years old and had never learned how to pronounce this. And so when I'd get up to read, I'd say something like, And he came and touched and they that bear him stood still.
- 24:02
So when preparing this class, what do you do nowadays? You Google things. So I Googled it and found one of those sites that you could hit a little button and a voice says the word. I'd wondered, is it buyer? Is it beer? So I click the button and it says beer. And I click it again. It says beer.
- 24:24
And I thought, did I hear that right? So I click it again. It says beer. Beer. And Carol's sitting across the desk from me to say, what is he doing over there? Beer, beer, beer. So that's my public service. It's not a word we use often, but it means a frame that they're carrying the coffin line.
- 24:47
Well, let's read the episode. It came to pass the day after that he went into a city called Nain. And many of his disciples went with him and much people. Now, when he was come nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother.
- 25:06
And she was a widow. And much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said unto her, weep not. And he came and touched the beer. And they that bear him stood still. And he said, young man, I say unto thee, arise.
- 25:30
And he that was dead sat up and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother. And there came a fear on all. And they glorified God, saying that a great prophet is risen up among us. Among us. And that God hath visited his people. And this rumor of him went throughout all Judea and throughout all the region round about.
- 25:52
Now, the first thing, you can't read this and not see the pathos of the circumstance. He was an only child, only son. And he was a young man. Probably just becoming an adult.
- 26:11
And now he's dead. And his mother, she was a widow. So she's destitute of her husband. And now she's destitute of her son and her only son. It says in verse 13, when the Lord saw her.
- 26:32
And there again, his eyes. He had compassion on her. It's such a tragic episode. And genuine compassion. You know, in the account of Lazarus' death, when it says that Jesus wept. I've heard people try to make that into that he was, well, he was weeping at the hard-heartedness of the Pharisees or whatever, and the people that were there.
- 27:06
As though to undercut the sincerity of, then the humanity of our Lord. It's such a shame. He wept because he loved Lazarus. And he loved Lazarus' sisters. And it was a tragic. He knew what was going to happen. But it was still tragic, the situation.
- 27:23
We're surrounded by infirmity. Jesus was surrounded by infirmity. That's important to know about him. And so too on this terribly sad occasion. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. A man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. Now the next observation, verse 13, before he does anything, he goes to the mother and he says, weep not.
- 27:56
And that could be regarded as completely superfluous. Just get on with the healing and her tears will stop. But Jesus went first to her and said, weep not. It was deep compassion. And he that was dead sat up, began to speak. And you can imagine the crowd's reaction. And I love this touch at the end of verse 15.
- 28:21
It's just like with Jairus' daughter. They said, give her something to eat. Jesus said, give her something to eat. Verse 15 says, he delivered him to his mother. Isn't that lovely? You couldn't have kept the mother away. Jesus delivered him to his mother.
- 28:47
Think of Psalm 126. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them to dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing. Then said they among the nations, the Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.
- 29:11
And for this woman, that moment was as big a deal as God restoring the captivity of Israel. And times when he works in our lives and produces such great joy. And so all were awestruck. And they gave glory to God saying, a prophet, a great prophet, has arisen among us. Such was the compassion of our Lord.
- 29:40
And his compassion was not only exhibited in his actions, but it was exhibited in his teaching as well. It's not just that he gave us the example. He told us we have to be compassionate as well. He was manifesting the character of God. John 17, in the Lord's Prayer there on the way to Gethsemane, he says, in verse 6, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world.
- 30:23
Thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. So marvelous study, the names and titles of God and all they teach us about him. And, and, but I don't think Jesus was doing a, an exposition of the meanings of the names and titles of God. We don't, we don't hear anything of that.
- 30:46
When he manifested the name of God, he was putting into, into action the things that Moses had heard on the mount when he'd been asked, when he asked if he could see God, and God said, you can't see me and live, but I'll put you in the cleft of the rock, I'll cover you with my hand, and you'll see my after glory.
- 31:08
And then an angel goes by pronouncing the name of the Lord. The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty. And I think often we get to that last bit about by no means clear the guilty and we say, ooh-ooh, that kind of takes away, kind of detracts away from you because we know how guilty we are at times.
- 31:44
But the point is that God is a righteous judge and then even in that we see his mercy. You know, it's not the case that the person with the deepest pockets can hire the best lawyer and get the best justice for themselves, not in the presence of God because he's just, but he's merciful and he's kind as well.
- 32:08
And Jesus manifested God's name. He manifested it in his teachings. You remember the man who, wanting to justify himself, said, but who's my neighbor? Right? He wanted to sort of narrow the scope of who neighbor is and I'll be nice to that handful of people.
- 32:36
And to him, he's given the parable of the good Samaritan. And Jesus asks him at the end, who was neighbor to that man? And he's completely turned around the man's question. He was saying, who's my neighbor? And Jesus is saying, being neighbor is your responsibility. A certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was and when he saw him, he had compassion.
- 33:06
The prodigal son, when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. Matthew chapter 18. The parable of the two debtors.
- 33:29
Matthew 18, verse 23. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him 10,000 talents. You know, a lot of Jesus' parables, they, the terms of them are, they're really out there.
- 33:55
I mean, there is, this is, this is, this is a person who owes, let's say, 150 million dollars. You think, how did you possibly get in debt 150 million dollars? It's a lot of money.
- 34:11
But for as much as he had not to pay, verse 25, his Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and children and all that he had and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him saying, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt.
- 34:35
And I think a lot of us might be content to end the parable there. Right? We would say, this is how compassionate God is towards us. You know, we owe him a debt that we couldn't possibly, couldn't even possibly imagine getting that far into debt, certainly not getting that far out of debt.
- 34:56
And we'd like to stop it there. But, we read on. Verse 28, the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants which owed him an hundred pence.
- 35:12
I believe it's the NIV. It says, owed him a few dollars. And that's not quite right. That's missing the point. This second debt was also substantial. It was something like, let's say, three hundred dollars. four hundred dollars. It was, it was, you know, it wasn't lunch money. It was a substantial debt, just no orders of magnitude below.
- 35:39
He laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying, pay me that thou owest. And his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him saying pretty much the same thing as this man had said himself. Have patience with me, I'll pay thee all. And he would not but went and cast him into prison till he should pay his debt.
- 36:02
So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant even as I had pity on thee?
- 36:32
And his lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly father do also unto you if he from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. I find this a tremendously challenging topic.
- 37:01
I guess we all have ills done to us of one sort or another. Somebody might run off with our tape, right brother David? People do do things to us that are thoughtless or they just are, you know, and they can bother us. But then every once in a while we get something really big and and you start struggling with the notion of forgiveness.
- 37:29
And we might even sort of circumscribe our forgiveness. We might say well if the person comes and is genuinely repentant then I'll forgive them.
- 37:45
I mean after all when Peter goes to Jesus and says if my brother comes and asks for forgiveness seven times and then Jesus says no seventy times seven. But Peter at least qualified it with it if he asks.
- 38:02
And yet if we're going to follow the example of Jesus when he was being nailed to the cross he was being nailed to the cross I mean I can't imagine what a horrifying thing that is. It says father forgive them they don't know what they're doing when it would be so easy to say they darn well know what they're doing.
- 38:27
And here it says so likewise shall my heavenly father do also unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses. forgiveness so forgiveness is not something that's optional.
- 38:45
We're called upon not merely to admire the compassion of our Lord but to exhibit it as well. Come with me please to Colossians chapter three. I'm so thankful for the way some of our classes seem to be fitting in together here and brother Phil's class this morning in which he spoke about the resurrection and the reality of the resurrection and what the implications if we believe in the resurrection it's pretty crystal clear how we ought to be living and Colossians three says if ye then be risen with Christ if you've been baptized making a commitment to put to death the old way of sin funny how in Romans the issue was shall we continue in sin that grace may abound you know God's grace I'm a good sinner he's good at forgiving the perfect sort of arrangement I can sin all I want and give God lots of opportunity and Paul's response isn't to get into that stuff he says look if you've been baptized the whole idea was that you wanted to be free from sin you've put to death that old man don't be asking how broad we can set the boundaries saying you were slaves to sin and now you have committed yourselves to be slaves to righteousness you have a new identity you were risen with Christ and if we really believe that Christ is risen and he's not just an academic principle but a living Lord who sees and hears and cares and is aware and involved in our lives then if we are risen with Christ seek those things that are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand
- 40:46
of God set your affection on things that are above not on things that are on the earth it's really neat to watch here after some of the classes and to see brethren and sisters sitting down opening up their Bibles and talking about things I was watching that right after the last class because their affections are on the things that are above not the things that you know maybe that has maybe that also maybe that's something I should have said in my exhortation this past Sunday about politics you know we're not involved with all of this it's the things that are beneath and the same goes with sports and with famous people and whatever it is that people are all consumed with for you're dead and your life is hid with Christ in God when Christ is our life who is our life shall appear then shall you also appear with him in glory put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication uncleanness lustful passion evil concupiscence desire covetousness which is idolatry don't need to say anything about that covetousness which is idolatry for which things sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience in the which ye also walked sometime when ye lived in them and that's the start put away those grosser grosser of sins but now verse 8 also put off all these anger wrath malice blasphemy blasphemy is an awful strong word but in the New Testament it really just means evil speaking and I mentioned on Sunday that in Titus Paul tells Titus to put them in mind to speak evil of no man
- 42:52
that's blasphemy don't speak evil of anybody and he doesn't say unless they really deserve it there's no qualification we shouldn't be bad mouthing people we shouldn't have any filthy communication coming out of our mouth we shouldn't lie one to another instead verse 12 put on as the chosen of God holy and beloved bowels of mercy translated other ways by modern versions the King James sticks to the pretty literal and gives us a hint that it is yes a connection slightly different word but connection to these moved with compassion passages in the gospels kindness humbleness of mind meekness long suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you so also do ye you know forbearing one another one of the nice things about coming to Bible school is we come into in a big group like this and none of you knows my foibles none of you I hope not anyway none of you knows those little annoying things that I must do that drive people in my meeting crazy unfortunately I don't know what they are either and we have all got them we have got brothers and sisters in our meetings we have got the ones who are perennially late and we have the ones who can't stand it when somebody is perennially late we have got the ones who insist on playing the piano at a dirge like rate and others who play it so fast that we have trouble keeping up with them there's any number of things there's there's little frustrations and we know all those sorts of things
- 44:56
and you know what we're to forbear one another because these things don't matter and we're to forgive one another if we have a quarrel any one of us against another as Christ forgave us so we're to do also 1st Peter 3 verse 8 finally be ye all like minded compassionate loving as brethren tender hearted humble minded 1st John 3 verse 17 whoso hath this world's good and seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwells the love of God in him so let's work at being compassionate let's work at being kind just taking the example of our Lord Jesus remembering him as the compassionate one through all his life all the circumstances of his life and now a compassionate high priest seated at the right hand of God making intercession for us but wanting us to follow his example of compassion towards our brethren and
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