A Compassionate God! - John 3:16

A Compassionate God!
September 9, 2012
John 3:16
 
Introduction

-          A couple of weeks ago, we were talking about the Father’s love for us

-          I was asking the Lord what he would have me speak about today, and the answer was love.  As I continued speaking and listening the focus came to be particularly on God’s compassion
-          So this morning we are speaking about God’s revelation of himself as a compassionate God!
-          Today we will look at just a few examples of God’s compassion

God’s compassion as humanity’s Savior

-          His love for us as sinful people, to give us a chance to get back to Him

-          When Adam and Eve sinned they set in motion a train of events they had no idea of
-          Their nature was changed, so that their natural tendency was to hate God and rebel against him
-          They saw it worked out in their firstborn son Cain, who murdered his brother in a fit of anger
-          All humanity has inherited this nature which Paul describes to us
-          Romans 8:7
-          This is why it is so hard for us to be obedient, why distractions pull us away, time and time again
-          It is what theologians call the Depravity of Man, our inability to bring ourselves into a relationship with God
-          Paul talks of the battle he endures day by day in Romans 6
-          Romans 6:21-25
-          It is through Jesus that we can be saved from destruction
-          It was through God’s compassion that he sent Jesus to be a sacrifice for us
-          John 3:16 God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whomever believes in his should not perish but have everlasting life
-          Eph 2:8-9 God’s compassion gives us His mercy, not what we deserve

God’s compassion as Israel’s Husband

-          Ezekiel 16:1-34

-          Israel searches for love in all the places it can’t find it, only God can satisfy this hunger
-          He loves Israel, washed her, cleaned her, married her, waited for her, allows her to experience the results of her sins, but finally he reconciles with her (verse 60)
-          He waits for his chosen people to repent and turn to him, just as he allows us to make choices and experience the results of our ways
-          But when we turn to him he cleanses us and reconciles us to him
-          Isa 1:18
-          We need to be praying for Israel during these critical times
-          Iran has developed its nuclear program to a critical level
-          It is constantly telling the Arab world how it hates Israel and wants to wipe it off the map
-          Israel is at the point where they will have to initiate a strike against Iran, in order to protect themselves from a nuclear armed Iran
-          We need to pray for Israel in this time of their distress
-          Psalm 122:6
-          These are critical times
-          Time to make sure we are right with God, and doing the work he called us to (Luke 12:43)

God’s compassion as our personal Comforter

-          John 14:15-16

-          His love in showing himself as our comforter
-          He provides the Holy Spirit as another Comforter
-          Jesus was the first comforter
-          He and the Father are one, and as we read in the gospels how Jesus looks and the crowds and is moved by compassion, he is showing what God is like
-          The Holy Spirit too is moved with compassion for us
-          We so often stray from the narrow way and he is moved with a longing to draw us back
-          This compassion is so much deeper than anything we know
-          The Bible often speaks of bowels of mercy, it is speaking of the same quality of God
-          The bowels signify a deepset feeling of compassion, you feel it in your stomack, deep down, a yearning to intervene and help
-          God also shows his compassion for us through providing for healing in the atonement
-          1 Pet 2:24, Isa 53:5
-          He showed his compassion in loving us even before we turned to him
-          1 Jn 4:19
-          His love in never walking away from us, though we walk away from him
-          Mat 28:19-20, Heb 13:5, Josh 1:5
-          He sent the Holy Spirit to live in us, and to be our friend, just as Jesus is our friend

Conclusion

-          So God shows himself to be a God of compassion for us

-          How do we respond to this? 
-          In a couple of weeks we will examine how we respond to a God of compassion
-          But if you have not yet experienced this God of compassion, and you want to make sure that you are right with him, please come forward after the offering has been taken up and make sure that you will be going to the right place, when you die.