The God with Skin on

[0:00] This morning I present to you the God with skin on.! His manhood, his humanity.

[0:33] He knew the full range of human emotions. The Lord Jesus is the real deal. He knows about feelings, our feelings, your feelings.

[0:48] He knows how we feel. And that's a comfort, isn't it? He's not some statue, not some God far, far away.

[0:59] He's a God close at hand. He's a God with skin on. He came and dwelt amongst us. He knew our frame. He knew what it was to walk this earth as a man.

[1:14] Of course, the perfect one, the God-man, without sin. And this morning I'd like us to think about how he knows where we're at.

[1:30] He knows how we feel. He has emotions and feelings. He's not unfeeling towards us. And we all have emotions and there's a right way and a right place to express them.

[1:42] It's rightful that we have emotions. We're emotional beings. And so too is our great saviour. He shows his humanity in his life, in his conduct, in his interactions, his heart.

[1:57] It's clear through the gospels. Read the gospels and see the heart of this great mighty God, the God-man, Christ Jesus. Notice what we can learn from him as we read how he lived, what he did.

[2:14] And it helps us too. He shows us how to deal with our feelings because we're human. And we know that the Bible tells us, as we've talked about of late times, the mind of Christ.

[2:26] We're meant to have the mind of Christ such that we are as he would be, a servant. The mind of Christ, how we are to have that. We read of the spirit of Christ.

[2:36] We're meant to have the spirit of Christ. It's his nature. It's who he is. The spirit of God, the spirit of Christ. We're meant to have that. And we ourselves, as a gathering, are the body of Christ.

[2:50] As an assembly of God's own dearly beloved people. And the Bible shows us much also, I put to you, of the feelings of Christ. The feelings of the Christ.

[3:04] Consider these things. God has given us emotions and feelings. We're not designed to be cold, lifeless, formal, unfeeling.

[3:16] We have an emotional side and that's a good thing. And that's a blessed thing. God can use our emotional side for the glory of God. What does it say?

[3:28] We're to weep with those who weep. We're meant to be human. We're meant to be reaching out. We're going to look at some of the raw emotion of our Lord. The raw humanity as he expressed his human side.

[3:41] As he walked this earth. As he showed his humanity. We can learn from that. Hebrews 4.15. Hebrews 4.15. Context is talking about priests and such.

[3:54] And he says, For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

[4:09] Verse 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

[4:21] The writer of Hebrews, he says, That we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Isn't that a blessing for us today?

[4:32] This is not some human priest, some mere man as a priest who would give us access or conduct some service for us.

[4:45] Notice, this is the very great high priest, the chief high priest, the ultimate high priest that went in and offered of himself as our fulsome sacrifice.

[4:59] There's nothing that can match this matchless sacrifice of his very blood on our part. And he is ready to receive us and impart grace. Notice it says that he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

[5:14] There's comfort there. This God is one we can touch. One God who touches us. This is not some remote and distant God. He is touched.

[5:25] He is touched. He touches us. And he is touched. There's comfort there. He's not unfeeling. When we're going through those valleys, when we're going through heartache, he knows where we are at.

[5:36] He knows our feelings. He's touched with our feelings. And he knows you perfectly. He knows what makes you tick.

[5:51] Now, we've had occasion to take some loved ones to the doctor of late. And, you know, doctors can try as they will, but sometimes they don't know what they're doing. He's had that experience.

[6:03] They go to multiple tests and they still don't, they can't work out what's wrong with you. You know, they try their best and they're well trained, but sometimes it's outside of their expertise, isn't it?

[6:15] The doctors can do only so much. Sometimes they try different treatments and medications almost to just see which one's going to work until they ultimately, oh, that one worked.

[6:28] Eventually. You know, some doctors are like that. You know, they're really lacking because we ultimately need our creator.

[6:42] He knows your DNA. He fashioned you. He created you. He formed you in the womb before you were even born. He knows every intimate detail about you.

[6:54] Everything about you. Isn't it wonderful to think that God knows everything about you and he loves you still? Isn't that? What a blessing that is.

[7:05] I should be saying that of me, that he knows everything about me and he loves me still. Isn't it? With all our inadequacies, all of our failings, all of our lack, that he would love us still.

[7:20] And he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. And we see through the life of Christ, he did not hold back from pouring forth his emotions. We can take comfort in that today.

[7:33] And the Bible says for us that we can learn from his example. There's so many ways we can learn from his example that he has set for us.

[7:44] 1 Peter 2.21. 1 Peter 2.21. It says, For even here unto where ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps.

[8:01] You should follow his steps. And we don't live in a neighbourhood where you see snow. Certainly not very much in Adelaide.

[8:11] But you can see where the footprints ahead are the ones to step into. And you can see that, I suppose, if you're out bush, you see where the footsteps are.

[8:23] You see where the track is and you stick to that. And friends, it's telling us to stick to the footprints of Jesus. Leaving us an example that we should follow in his steps, in his footprints.

[8:34] And so what can we learn from the feelings of Jesus? And how can we translate that into the 21st century, into your shoes and mine?

[8:44] When it comes to our feelings, how we handle them. There's no greater example, no greater role model than this one. He's left us an example, it says, to follow his steps.

[8:55] So how did the Lord Jesus Christ demonstrate his feelings? Now, nowadays there's a slogan people might have heard of, what would Jesus do? It's a slogan people bandy about, isn't it?

[9:09] What would Jesus do? They might wear a little bracelet with the acronym. What would Jesus do? How about, how would Jesus feel?

[9:21] How would Jesus feel? What did Jesus feel? What did he do with his feelings? This is my point here in this time together. When he first appeared on the scene in his ministry, one of his first acts, following the miracle at Cana, was that he cleansed the temple.

[9:41] And he did it at least, some reckon at least it was a second time in his last days on the earth. It would appear that it happened at least twice, at the beginning of his ministry and in his closing days of ministry.

[9:58] We notice here the feelings of Christ, I put to you this morning, his zeal. Go to John 2, John 2. As we notice the feelings of Christ, we notice his zeal.

[10:12] John 2 verse 13. As I say, it's around the time where he's first appearing in ministry. John chapter 2 from verse 13.

[10:25] As I say, it's following on from the miracle of Cana, where he miraculously turned the water into wine at the wedding.

[10:40] John 2 verse 13. And the Jews' Passover was at hand. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the chanches of money sitting.

[10:53] And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen. And he poured out the chanches' money and he overthrew the tables and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence, make not my father's house and house of merchandise.

[11:11] And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. The feelings of Christ. Notice his zeal.

[11:23] The zeal of God is a good thing to have. Notice the manliness of our Lord Jesus. Some would picture him as meek and mild, you know, some kind of soppy, weakly man.

[11:40] He's quite the opposite. He demonstrated a zeal. We are called to zeal. Zeal. To be zealous of good works.

[11:52] Have a zeal for the truth. A zeal for righteousness. We could use some of that, couldn't we? I can. I'd like to have a bit more zeal. A lot more zeal.

[12:03] We ought to get excited about the things of God. We ought to get excited about opportunities we have to serve, to fellowship, to put our faith into action.

[12:15] We should have zeal. It appears there was anger here. It's not stated so, exactly so, but you could see that there was a degree that he was recognizing what was going on was wrong.

[12:32] And our Lord put his feelings into action. Of course, we know that anger that causes sin is wrong, but there is an anger that is not ungodly.

[12:45] Our Lord, what did he do? He fashioned a whip, a scourge out of cords. He drove all out of the temple, the sheep, the oxen.

[12:57] This was his house. His father's house. And he knew what the goings on here, they did not honor God. And he took some strong action here.

[13:08] You know, he was a bit of a, this was pretty radical, wasn't it? Imagine if you suddenly had such an occasion. If we were to see such an occasion, such a disturbance, such a disruption.

[13:23] Now, this was how it was done. People would naturally have to purchase their animals for the slaughter. But there were some here that were making it a merchandising, an inappropriate action.

[13:43] And it was not honoring to God. And our Lord, he poured out the changers' money. They were trying to cheat people. He overthrew the tables.

[13:58] There was no place for that in the sanctuary. He made a point. He would not tolerate the mockery of the spirit of true worship. He would not condone this ungodliness in the godly world.

[14:13] Holy place. It was out of place. And what would Jesus do? What would Jesus do if he were to see what goes on in the name of Christianity today?

[14:28] What would Jesus do? We know what he did do. He displayed God's wrath. He was angered. He was distraught.

[14:38] And he took action. He was zealous. The zeal of God ate him up. He faced up to the wrong. And we see that in other occasions too.

[14:50] With the religious crowd. With the religious phonies. To the establishment of his day. What did he do?

[15:01] What did Jesus do? He faced up to the Pharisees. We see how he addressed these hard-hearted ones. Matthew 23. It's the whole chapter there, really.

[15:13] Of his condemnation. Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! This judgment upon these hard-hearted religious ones. He says, Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers.

[15:28] How can you escape the damnation of hell? There are strong words from the lips of our Lord. Serpents, vipers, hell, hypocrites.

[15:43] Our Lord spoke up against error and falsehood. Now, there's lots that goes on in the name of Christianity that is not Bible. And if it's not Bible, we must question that.

[15:58] Very much so. Our Lord spoke up against the falsehood and the false ones. And the point is that there is a rightful place for holy anger.

[16:10] Now, when you see some of the things that go on, some of the... The messages from some of these TV preachers, it's not biblical.

[16:23] It's not Bible. Or if it is Bible, they're twisting it and perverting it and misapplying it, misconstruing it, and using it wrongly.

[16:37] Righteous anger. There's a place for that. There's a place for that. Now, you get some people say... And we've experienced this in our witnessing and in some of...

[16:49] For example, when I've posted things about meetings coming up and people say, you don't know what the church has done to me or to the people that I love.

[17:02] People say that, don't they? Oh, I know what churches do, what priests do. People have that thought, don't they? The evils. There's a lot of evil done in the name of Christ.

[17:15] God's not in that. Let me tell you today. He's got righteous anger against that. He hates that. What would Jesus do? He'd be casting some people out.

[17:26] He'd be booting down some tables and throwing some money changes out. Righteous anger is being angry about what makes God angry.

[17:36] And what makes God angry should make us angry too. We should be angry. There are some things that plainly are anti-God. And our culture just swallows it and follows it.

[17:49] I get angry when I see the exceeding sinfulness of sin. I see the ugliness of it. I saw a sex ed clip being used to educate school children in Canada and it disgusted me.

[18:03] I think God hates that. I think God's against that. God's angry at that. What little children are being taught.

[18:17] Likewise, when we see racism and injustice, when we see child abuse, when we see domestic violence, God's angry at that. It's wrong.

[18:31] Now, I've had occasion to see a house with its walls smashed, with doors torn off the hinges, with holes in walls, in doors.

[18:48] Domestic violence. It's evil. And of course, we know domestic violence can be male to female, female to male. And it can be emotional and mental, not just merely smashing things.

[19:03] But God's against that. It makes God angry to see that. I get angry when I see the blasé attitude towards abortion somehow.

[19:16] As if it's just a medical procedure. I get angry about that. And we should have a holy discontent, an anger at sin, at our own sin, most of all, shouldn't we?

[19:33] We should feel an outrage, a burden. We should be against what is wrong and take action. And you might say, look, I've done some of that. I've done some of those things.

[19:45] God's got grace to forgive. There is help. There is help at the foot of the cross. There is grace to help in time of need. There's grace for anyone. You might say, I don't know how sinful I am.

[19:56] Jesus can take the worst, the chief of sinners, and make them the greatest of saints. There's blessing. There's help for you. There's no condemnation in Christ. Just come and yield your heart.

[20:10] But we should have an outrage at that which is wrong. Now, sometimes people can have a zeal that is unwise in the garden. Peter, he had a bit of zeal.

[20:21] He got his sword out and he slashed off the ear of the high priest's servant. That was zeal, but it was unwise zeal. He wasn't doing what our Lord wanted him to do.

[20:34] And the Lord restored the ear of the priest's servant. And so there's unwise zeal. Got to be guarded against that. Some people are zealous and yet it's misdirected zeal.

[20:50] You see some people get pretty zealous at the footy game or whatever it be. People can be zealous about some particular interest or some particular cause. You know, save the whales, whatever it be.

[21:02] We can have zeal about all manner of different causes, some good, some bad, some doubtful, but talking about a zeal for God. That's what we're on about here.

[21:13] Some people, it says in Romans 10 verse 2, they have a zeal without knowledge. A zeal without knowledge. We see some religious ones that have a zeal, but they don't even know the Saviour, sadly.

[21:27] That's sad, very sad. Paul himself was so full of zeal in the practice of his religion as he was then called Saul before he was saved that he persecuted the church.

[21:39] Philippians 3 verse 6. Saul, he was, what does it say, virtually frothing at the mouth. He was very viciously zealous to haul the Christians out and to punish and kill them.

[21:58] Paul, as the unsaved Saul, had zeal. People can have zeal for religion, can't they? And we know there's religions these days, they have zeal. Zeal enough to even shed blood.

[22:11] God's not in there. It's not God. God. We should have a zeal for God that is rightful. A zeal for God that is Bible. The zeal of God.

[22:22] The zeal of God. Such that God, our Lord, our Saviour, we're filled with a zeal for him, a zealousness for him.

[22:35] That we're set on fire for him. That he enlivens us, he excites us, he inspires us and fills us such that we must overflow for him.

[22:50] The zeal of God. And the zeal of God is exercised with wisdom. We could use some of that, couldn't we? Can't we? A zeal to share our faith.

[23:02] And that could be in humble, simple, quiet ways, as well as loud ways. We can all share our faith. Tell someone of your Saviour.

[23:15] Invite someone to the Saviour. The zeal there. And we should have some zeal to not be ashamed of our Lord. Nothing is more precious.

[23:27] No greater message. No greater love. The zeal of God. We should have the zeal of God to speak up and to exercise our spiritual gifts and callings.

[23:41] That we should have a zeal that we want to. We want to. The feelings of Christ. His zeal. Secondly, his compassion.

[23:53] His compassion. Luke 19, 41. We see the compassion of our Lord. His great love. Wherewith his love does. And he loves us still. His love is from everlasting to everlasting.

[24:10] His love is eternal. It's forever love. It's God's love. And Luke 19, 41.

[24:20] We see as our Lord came to Jerusalem. Luke 19, 41. As it was in the closing days of his ministry, Luke 19, 41.

[24:39] He beheld the city and wept over it. And then we see as it reads further, he had the other occasion where he cast them out. He said, my house is the house of prayer.

[24:51] You've made it a den of thieves. It wasn't long before they were saying, crucify him! Crucify him!

[25:04] And when he came near, it says, he beheld the city and he wept over it. When he came near, he beheld the city and he wept over it. When our Lord Jesus, in another occasion, he saw the multitudes, he says, there are sheep without a shepherd.

[25:19] And he had compassion. And likewise, we see him as he comes to the tomb for the grieving family of his friend Lazarus in John 11. You might want to flick there too, John 11.

[25:33] Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, John 11, 33. We see the love of Jesus. We see his feelings. He's touched with the feelings of our infirmities.

[25:45] John 11, 33. 33. We see the love of Jesus. Mary was there. She fell down at his feet. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled and said, where have you laid him?

[26:05] They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, behold, how he loved him. And here's your memory verse for today.

[26:17] Jesus wept. Jesus wept. Can you remember that one? Jesus wept. We see his deep concern, his deep love. He was deeply troubled.

[26:27] He's deeply stirred. Disturbed, it says, really there. In that one, it says, John 11, 33. He groaned in the spirit, was troubled. Now, the Lord Jesus was troubled.

[26:41] He's touched with the feelings of our infirmities. You might say, God doesn't know what kind of trouble I'm in. Jesus was troubled. He was troubled. He was stirred. He had deep concern.

[26:53] He's touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Notice his great love, his godly love. Our Lord loved, truly, truly loved.

[27:03] Not in word only, but in deed and in truth. He showed his love to whom? The most undeserving, the outcasts, outcasts, those who were cast aside, cast out, the tax collectors.

[27:24] Oh, he loves the tax office. Those who work for the tax office. It's like trying to love the policeman when he comes in. He showed his love to the tax collectors and he would sometimes eat with them.

[27:40] Wow, that's love, isn't it? And we know some of them were crooks. He extended his mercy to the sinful, to the woman caught in the very act. And he stooped down and wrote in the sand.

[27:57] And we know, he says, woman, where are your accusers? He was the only one without sin. But he did not throw the stone.

[28:09] Through grace at her. We're called likewise to walk in love, aren't we? To love, to love souls. The compassion of Jesus. Do we know that?

[28:21] What would Jesus feel? We should have the feelings of Jesus too. Psalm 142, we hear of the prayer of David. He was in the cave. There's questions which cave it was because he had a couple of such occasions.

[28:35] But Psalm 142, verse 4, it says, I looked on my right hand and beheld, but there was no man that would know me. Refuge failed me. No man cared for my soul.

[28:47] Here was David in distress. No man cared for my soul. Here's David, a hunted man in fear of his very life. Then David cries out in faith.

[29:01] Psalm 142, verse 5, I cried unto thee, O Lord. I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living. He says, No man cared for my soul, but thou art my refuge.

[29:14] Friends, his compassion extends still. The compassion of Jesus, it hasn't stopped. It's from everlasting to everlasting. He beheld the city and he wept over it.

[29:26] He had compassion and I think he beholds our city. I think he beholds our state. He beholds our nation. He beholds our community and he weeps over it.

[29:37] He has compassion. He sees the drug abuse. He sees the despair. He sees the heartache. He sees the broken and he weeps over it. He has compassion still.

[29:49] Our Lord cares. His compassion extends again and again and again and still today. He reaches out and he heals and he saves. May we have the same feelings and the same action.

[30:04] I was asked of late do we pray for the sick? Yes we do. Pray for those who are sick and the worst sickness is the sickness of sin. It's that grave terminal illness as the wages of sin is death that you might trust him.

[30:26] May we have the same feelings. The love of Jesus. We see the feelings of Jesus. We see we see his zeal don't we?

[30:41] We see his compassion. Thirdly I'll put to you we see his agony. Luke 22. Notice also his agony. Luke 22 from verse 44.

[30:53] He's in the garden and being in agony he prayed more earnestly and his sweat became was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground such that his prayer was so earnest such that his sweat was as it were great drops of blood.

[31:17] I put to you this one this one this God with skin on this God has feelings and he has agony his agony here in the garden our Lord knew tension and struggle you might say preacher I've got a bit of that going on it's not easy right now Jesus is with you he's in the garden he's in agony he's praying more earnestly and he's dropped his sweat is as great drops of blood falling down to the ground he knows agony he knows it as the cross loomed large as he faced the agony of our penalty our shame our curse he went to prayer earnest prayer and so can we our Lord knew anguish and was troubled in spirit our Lord can teach us here I put to you when we face strain do we complain when we face pressure do we pray this great doctor Jesus knows your DNA he knows he knows what you need he doesn't have to guess or you know try an array of medications he knows exactly what you need the balm of Gilead he knows that healing that you need in your soul and our Lord knew anguish he was troubled in spirit surely he had borne our grief and carried our sorrows surely he knew what the cross meant it was just hours away and Isaiah 1 verse 7 it was prophesied of him how he set his face like a flint it was sharply set it was set with no turning back he set his face like a flint he had a holy resolve a holy purpose a divine imperative he had to get to the cross for you for me

[33:12] Luke 9 51 and it came to pass when the time was come that he should be received up he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem he knew what was at Jerusalem it meant a beating a bruising his hurting the cross he steadfastly set his face he steadfastly set his face for you for me for our saving he knew what it meant to go there it meant the agony of the cross that's what it meant and he steadfastly set his face to go there we are called to the same agony he says take your cross and follow me we shy away from that don't we well I like the Christian I like the Christian principles I like the Christian philosophy but oh a cross that sounds a bit that might hurt we're called to the cross we're called to the cross

[34:20] Paul says using the like word fight the good fight of the faith fight the good fight of the faith literally you could transliterate it agonise the good agony there's a sense where as a Christian you there's an agony I don't know how can I put this across as Paul said fight the good fight of the faith there's a sense of a struggle there's an agonising agonise the good agony we know we're in these human vessels of clay our teeth are going to give way our bones are starting to ache our skin starts to shrivel up and bits start to die off and our body starts to break down while we're in this human temple that these this vessel of clay will slowly deteriorate and there's going to be a struggle on this side of glory there's a certain struggle isn't there and with a fight on our hands the good fight of the faith it means to struggle it means a whole wrestling match a testing a fighting the feelings of Christ is the sense of the agony the sense of striving our Lord calls us to strive to enter in

[35:35] Luke 13 24 sometimes we're a bit half hearted I am I need to struggle struggle against my pride struggle against my unwillingness to submit to Christ to struggle to see myself in need of prayer to struggle when my heart is unwilling to trust Christ to struggle with my flesh to agonise the agony to fight the good fight to ultimately surrender to God's will to trust him entirely with my life how are we using our emotions I put to you today the devil does not want us to live our Christian life with passion the devil does not want you to get passionate about your faith he doesn't want you to get passionate about your Christianity he wants you to adopt a Christianity that makes no demands he wants a listless church empty of passion and zeal he wants

[36:37] Christians whose faith is cold lifeless and lax our Lord calls us to be wholehearted and the good news is he enables us to be such doesn't he amen doesn't he well if it was all up to me to be wholehearted for God I know I'd never make it but he makes it he makes us such he helps us to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might I urge you today come with your whole life to Christ engage your feelings in a good and godly way and I was urging one a couple of weeks back as the Bible says in Jeremiah 29 13 you shall find me if you'll search for me with all your heart search for God search for God diligently and surely search for him diligently you will find grace our Lord calls us to urgent action earnest action we see in

[37:39] Luke 14 the parable of going out and inviting to the supper and he says go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in Luke 14 23 there's a sense where God his zeal his compassion this struggle within we know that there's lost ones out there that need inviting and it presses us we want to tell somebody our Lord urges us to such an awakening to use our emotions in a good and godly way and you might say well I've only got a little bit of faith I'm just that's all you need amen you might say look I've just got this little mustard seed I'm just a really basic Christian I'm still a baby Christian I might have been a Christian for years and

[38:40] I still feel like a baby Christian if you're faithful in the little things you'll be faithful in the big just do little things right God will help you to do big things right do what you can with the little you are and feel and have and God will help you to be more faithful make it your habit just to do the little things right God will help you I just urge you today to restore this passion and we're seeing a world where nowadays churches are either liberal charismatic or dead stone dead cold it's different from the Bible church it says in Peter in the early church in Acts 5 you fill Jerusalem with this doctrine you fill Jerusalem with your doctrine they could not be deterred the whole world knew these crazy Christians they were wholly about this great mission and friends today our world is in crisis there's a great crisis there's a desperate need what is the need it's a need for zeal his zeal for compassion his compassion and for a goodly godly agony of soul that we should be broken up inside and there's an agonizing a struggle it's I must

[40:01] I must I must God can send us revival we've just got to choose sides don't we we can be humdrum or we can be clothed with the power of Christ wouldn't you rather have that prayerfully seek that it still avails his power still avails we can be mealy mouthed and have an unclear sound or we can preach the pure gospel we can be ours and out for Christ when the Lord went to Jerusalem to the cross he set his face as a flint he set his face steadfastly he would suffer there the agony but also he knew the joy of the cross that's the last kind of feeling the last emotion to touch on there's great joy in Christ isn't there there's great joy for you we hear of those who repent of the angels rejoicing in heaven you know they have a bit of a celebration up there when someone trusts Christ it says the angels rejoice there's a great joy in Christ because the cross was agony but it was joy there's two sides to the cross the sunshine and the shadow

[41:13] Hebrews 12 we read as we're familiar no doubt wherefore seeing we're encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside the weight every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us let us run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto who Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him despising the shame endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God for the joy that was set before him he set his face as a flint he set his face steadfastly Jerusalem he knew the agony of the garden and he knew the joy beyond the cross the joy of what of saved souls the joy of those who would trust him the joy of the redeemed that would be saved and as God's dear people we can enter into that joy you might say well preacher

[42:18] I don't feel much like rejoicing right now Luke 6 I know we touched on it on our Thursday nights the situation of where men shall reproach you and such it says in Luke 6 22 blessed are you when men shall hate you when they shall separate you from their company shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the son of man's sake Luke 6 23 rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy for behold your reward is great in heaven for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets I know there's a church called the Mollocons some Russian church called the Mollocons and they're also known as the holy spiritual jumpers the holy spiritual jumpers now I'm not advocating that you become a Mollocon today but it would be good to be a holy spiritual jumper wouldn't it to leap for joy wouldn't that be a good thing and the

[43:19] Bible says when are we to leap for joy when you're persecuted you know you might want to go home and do a bit of leaping we Baptists are a little bit not inclined to do jumping but we should have some leaping for joy shouldn't we that Jesus has set us free shouldn't we that we've been set free the chains have been taken off and rejoice in that day and leap for joy there's joy because of the cross this morning isn't there there's joy for the believer there's joy for the saved our Lord showed zeal showed compassion he suffered the pain and agony but he saw the joy beyond the cross the joy of saved souls and he knew joy and so can we in 1 John 1 4 it says these things will be right unto you that your joy may be full this joy is not some joy that you kind of that comes and goes this is not some joy that's kind of a little bit of joy this is full joy fullness of joy as it says in John 15 he says likewise

[44:22] John 15 verse 11 these things I've spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full wow friends we've looked at the God with skin on what would Jesus feel he says we should walk in his footsteps we should be like him shouldn't we to recap where we've travelled here just to close may we know this his zeal when we see things that are wrong things that are wrong in churches no it's not of God we're against that which is not of God and we are for that which is for God we are for that which is Bible we need to have a zeal for God a zeal for truth a zeal for the right a zeal for righteousness we should have likewise a compassion such that we see others as Christ would see them that our compassion would not be filtered by our own prejudices but that our compassion would be unfiltered amen so it doesn't matter what a person may look like or smell like or talk like or act like the compassion of Jesus is as wide as his mercies isn't it they may refuse the message but we can still impart it we can still have the compassion of our

[45:50] Lord the love of Jesus the love of God the love of Christ constrains us let's not limit the love of God let's lavish the love of God on those that we can to welcome and love love the unlovely love the unlovable love as Christ would love with his compassion we see the agony don't shy away from some agony life is full of agony at times there's trouble Jesus himself was troubled in spirit there's times where the Lord Jesus was moved with feelings of trouble you can see that I've only reflected on some but there's the sense where he was troubled in spirit that trouble even Christ knows what trouble is and he experienced that agony and we are called to agonise the good agony fight the good fight struggle the good struggle don't let the difficulties deter you don't let obstructions unsettle you don't let obstacles stop you struggle use the agony take your cross as he calls you to and see that beyond the cross the cross of our Lord is the joy set before him the joy of souls one there's no greater joy than you to tell another that they might trust him there's no greater joy than you would impart that saving gospel message and put some feeling your whole heart into your faith is my plea this morning

[47:24] I urge you I know I've been talking really to encourage Christians and the starting point is to trust him to trust him to know him and not to know a religion but to know Jesus to know him to know that he died on the cross for your sin he's risen from the dead he's your loving saviour and lord simply call on him and trust him receive his gift trust him now and as believers let's know him and his feelings that he is touched with the feelings of our infirmities he's not some remote distant god he's very close at hand and he knows your DNA he knows how you tick he knows what you have need of and he's your friend he sticks closer than a brother let's pray lord we thank you that we are able to come to the high priest that is touched with the feelings of our infirmities lord we love you help us to share your love your zeal your compassion lord to have that passion that willingness to carry across to take your message that we might impart joy to others and that joy might be in heaven because we are faithful lord that will leap for joy even in situations that are difficult we can know your overcoming power in

[48:42] Jesus precious name amen