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Would you kindly turn, first of all, to James and chapter five. The epistle of James and chapter five, Just to lift one verse there. We'll read for the sake of connection, verse ten. Take my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the endurance or patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.
These are the words that we want to draw from that verse. The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. Now the next epistle, James, first, uh, Peter, first Peter and chapter three. First Peter and chapter three. and reading verses eight and nine. Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing, but contrawise blessing, knowing that ye are hereunto called that ye should inherit the blessing.
And the verse we want, or the section we want to lift from that is, be pitiful. Now turn over now to the book of the Psalms, and we'll read in the hundred and third Psalm. Job, Psalms, Proverbs, the book of Psalms, and in One oh three. Verse one of the Psalm, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who giveth, who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. The Lord is gracious.
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgression for us, from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him, for he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust.
As for man, his days are as grass, and as the flower of the field, eh, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy or loving kindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him. May the Lord bless the reading of his precious word. I would like this evening, by the help of the Lord and by the help of his gracious Holy Spirit, to try and bring before you basically and simply the pitiful nature of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ.
Sometimes, when we think within ourselves in those introspective ways of thinking, we come to feel like the man who said, the Lord is a hard, austere man, reaping where he has not strong. But the consensus of the Bible proves that our God is very, very merciful and very, very pitiful. And when I say that, I don't want you to get the impression that God takes a brush and cloaks over sin. That's not what I'm going to be talking about at all. Sin is a very, very serious thing to God. Even sins of ignorance are serious to God. That's why in the book of Leviticus there is an atonement for the sin of ignorance.
And even in relation to our devotion life in the burnt offering, you remember it also mentions an atonement there for the soul as well, teaching us that even the lack of devotion to God is a sin before him. That's very, very serious. Now, we're not going to be dealing with whitewashing over sin. That's not what's on our mind, but our exercise is to try and portray before you some of the loving kindnesses and merciful dispositions of our God, and particularly, mainly in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, his beloved Son. I want you to see, first of all, without wasting time, for I have no time to waste, I want you to see, first of all, how beautifully these matters come out in the life of the Lord Jesus, how pitiful he was with people.
Now, you know I read the other two verses. First of all, to prove that the Lord was pitiful, and then, of course, to carry us on to be pitiful and thoughtful to one another. You can never enjoy this ministry or ever go home and say you enjoyed it and not be equally pitiful to each other and sympathetic and merciful. I was thinking, too, that in this psalm there is a great basis of beginning. By that he commences with all the Lord has done for us, dealing with our sins and our iniquities, and then bringing in that lovely section that the Lord will not chide forever. That is that he does not hold his wrath.
We talk about keeping our wrath warm. The Lord does nothing of that nature, and so we want to portray before you something of these great feelings of our Lord Jesus Christ. I thought that when the Lord Jesus moved down here, eh, amongst his apostles, you remember that there was not one of his followers where, could we call them, any of them intellectuals? Now, I know it's different when you come to Paul, but when you come to the twelve apostles or even the seventy, you'll find that they're possibly of the most ordin- ordinary class. They tell us that when people are really brainy, how awkward it is for them to carry on conversations with people of a lower class than themselves.
In fact, it has been said that intelligent people are the most lonely people because they can't get anyone to speak to them on their level. But in all the words and ways and dealings of the blessed Lord Jesus, with these men that possibly none of them, maybe apart from Matthew, none of them had an O or an A level. None of them had any plaques or certificates. None of them had any education you could talk about, but I'm sure the Galileans had none at all. And yet our blessed Lord moved with these men for three and a half years, and he never once ever scolded them because of their background and because of their lack of IQ or because of their lack of education.
And of course, it highlights to us, I'm sure, the tremendous humility of the Lord Jesus. Everyone in here should know that there was not one rabbi amongst the twelve apostles. That is, not one man that knew the word of God accurately. They may have been taught from their childhood the basic facts of the law, but they knew nothing of the intricacies of the law. I mean the ceremonial law, or even the Levitical law. And so, when our Lord journeyed with them, there was none of that sort of highbrow amongst them, and how blessedly and sweetly he moved amongst them, and never once did he ever chide them because of their basic ignorance.
I want you to see too that amongst them there was not even one influential person, and I equally noticed that there was not one rich person amongst them. You know, were we commencing an operation, we would think, well, at least we'll get someone with a little bit of backing, eh, behind us, or we'll get someone with some sort of influence in the district amongst us. But our blessed Lord never did that. In fact, had I been choosing the twelve, I wouldn't have had the most of them. And Matthew, of course, the publican, he was just a possible daily problem to the Lord Jesus, for the nation hated publicans, whether they were honest or otherwise.
But these were the kind of people that our blessed Lord Jesus not only called, but he never once ever traded with them for anything of their natural ability or their lack of it, or their lack of in- influence, or lack of riches, or lack of background, or anything like that. You see, the Lord is very, very pitiful, and the Lord is very, very considerate, and he took into consideration every one of these apostles' backgrounds and makeups and hereditary and everything about them, and how patiently and gently and lovingly and purposefully, and may I suggest to you, su- successfully brought them on until there came a time when people said, these are the men which have turned the world up.
So you can see that his attitude amongst them, it paid off and dividends accrued, and we're going to go down some of these things wherein he was very, very pitiful to them. Usually when we meet people that are grossly ignorant, there seems to rise up, even although we have the best of training, and we can hide it, it simmers away there when we meet basic ignorance, we feel a sort of kind of disgust about it. Well, you know, the blessed Lord Jesus Christ, he never ever felt like that towards his apostles or his disciples. You see, of course, sometimes when a child gets a bit educated and they come home and their father and their mother still have their old ways and their old chairs and their old sayings and their old habits.
And, you know, the child just can't, you know, oh da, they'll say, oh ma. And of course, they're a bit disgusted, and they're a bit embarrassed with the sort of loc- colloquial and parochial ways of the parents, and disgust seems to come into their faces. But, you know, the Lord Jesus, he was traveling with men that had not much, if anything, and certainly had no intelligence of this world's, eh, caliber, and yet never once did he ever, never once did he ever chide them because of their basic, eh, ignorance. I want you to see, not only so, that he never once ever made them feel that they were his inferiors.
Now, of course, they knew that they were his inferiors, but never once will you ever find that he ever made them feel that they were his inferiors. In fact, he actually, at one stage, he called them, ye are my friends. And the most of them had the basic daily, hourly love of the Lord Jesus. Every one of them had the special training of the Lord Jesus, and three of them exceptionally had those moments of high privilege when he took one to the morning bedroom and the other to the others to the Mount of Transfiguration, and the others to the garden of his grief.
And so you can see that he never treated any of them or ever gave them one impression that they were his inferiors. Now, if you have moved in the world of men, you will find it doesn't matter in what class or in what profession, you'll always find that man and woman who shall pull rank on the other one. You know what I mean by that? You know you have dealt with men as and women as well as I have, and you know when the argument is too strong for your superior, then they'll come down upon you and let you know that you are a, you are actually an inferior. That's what we call drawing or pulling rank upon a person.
But you know the blessed Lord Jesus, he never ever made them feel they were inferior. He'll adjust them, and he'll enlighten their ignorance, and he'll bring them on, and he'll bring light into their darkness and life for their dead eh persons, but he'll bring them on, but gently and blessedly, until they become the finished article, until they become the polished shaft, until they become refined silver, but he'll deal with them in that way, and that's the point I want to be coming to. He called them my friends. I took a little note a long time ago while reading about the Lord Jesus, trying to find if ever he kept a record of their faults.
He never kept a record of their faults. Now, there is no group of people like God's people, I mean ourselves, for keeping records of people's faults. You know, in the world, all your records are all known. Just have a crash, and they just buzz yonder in the mainland, and your, your name comes up somewhere away down in England, and your number, and your size, and your eyes, and your, your, your cash in your bank, and you understand? All the records are all kept. But the blessed Lord, he never once kept a record of all their faults. Mind you, he could have filled books with every one of them. But he didn't do it.
No, he didn't do it. Mind you, there would be a basic lesson there. Have you old axes to grind? Do you keep things coming up all the time? Well, remember, the Lord Jesus had any amounts of room to work with the faults of those twelve. And by the way, I cannot bear but not to apply this to you. I tell you, when the books are all open, for it will take books of all our lives and all our deeds and all our motives, books. In these passages, I want you to see, he never kept a record of their folly, or their vanity, or their inconsistency.
Now you can just imagine I'm looking down on some of you, and I know you, and you know me. Now you can just imagine what a library there would be of all your failings and all your inconsistencies and all your bits and pieces. Isn't it wonderful that he's pitiful? Isn't it grace- isn't it gracious of him to have loving kindness and thoughts about us? Isn't it beautiful that he remembereth our frame? He knoweth that we are but dust. Mind you, if he didn't remember, we would never exist. May God in his mercy give us to see that point. He never kept records of their faults. Do you keep people's records of their faults and wait for an opportunity to bring it up?
I think that's mean and, and, and, and detestable to do anything like that. It's ignoble. It's not high. It's, it's nothing but cheap meanness. Oh, get away from that practice. It will demean your whole manliness in your life. I thought not only of, eh, that, but I thought for his pity for them because of s- the lack of spiritual insight. Now we'll come into closer things, we're only opening up, but he pitied them for their lack of spiritual insight. That is that they didn't actually come, and I want to be careful what I'm saying, but they never actually could get away from the idea of the earthly kingdom.
And possibly even Peter's epistles and James' epistles, and even the trace even through John's epistles, you'll find that even the kingdom, I know they got their greater idea after the cross, but the kingdom, the kingdom, the kingdom, and when he was with them, they had no other vision but an earthly kingdom and an earthly throne and a nationalistic thing. That's all they had in their mind, even to the very end, they are still saying, wilt thou at this time restore unto us the kingdom? Now here is a point where the Lord Jesus was very pitiful with them because of their lack of spiritual insight.
Not only so, I want you to see that they thought in their mind of a kingdom. They thought in their mind of a throne. They thought in their mind of reigning. They thought in their mind of a place. You remember Zebedee's wife, a place for our John and James, one in the right hand and one on the left, and the whole nation thought that way, and all the apostles thought that way. They all thought of earthly grandeur. They all thought of getting rid of the boats and getting a big place in the kingdom. They had all the earthly kingdom in their mind. Strange, isn't it? But how uncannily strange it is that you and I, who say we have been lifted beyond earthly things, how strange that we are still tied to them.
How strange we love a part in them. How strange our eyes and hearts are set upon them. Oh, I'm glad he pities us as well, for even when you're going through the epistles, even to the Gentiles, the apostle has to say to them, don't set your affections on things beneath, but on things above. That's why it's lovely in the Ephesians chapter one, He tries again to enhance and enrich the saints by telling them the noble heavenly nature of their calling, of their present position in the heavenlies in Christ. And how grateful we are tonight that our Lord not only pitied their lack of spiritual insight, how gracious it is of him tonight to pity our lack of spiritual insight.
How he has borne with us when we know that certain passages of the Word of God are nigh self-explanatory. How we have matters like unequal yoke, how we have matters like headship being set aside, and all these kind of a things, and they're so plain, they're as plain as a pipe stab in God's word. And yet we would deliberately float them or in some crafty way try to circumvent it and come out with something else. While all the time the thing is clear. Did our Lord, when he was here, did he ever give them a notion that there was going to be an earthly kingdom?
Did he ever tell them they were going to reign? Did he ever tell them there was going to be any earthly prizes? Never once. When he spoke, he didn't speak about reigning, he didn't speak about places, he didn't speak about thrones. He was always talking about blood, and he was always talking about suffering, and he was always telling them he was going to die, and he was always telling them about sacrifice. How could they miss it? But they did. How do we miss the point? Why are we what we are? How is it, says Paul, you are so carnal?
How is it you are just on the verge of the world? How is it your eyes are drawn away to the things that are vain and empty, when God has projected before our eyes in the epistles the heavenly spiritual nature of the kingdom? And so I want you to see tonight that he pitied them, pitied them because they missed the mark. Not only so, I want you to see that he pitied them, we're coming down to a lower level. He pitied them because of their lack of concern for souls.
Now, this should cause a real movement in our hearts. The disciples really didn't have a great concern for souls. Mind you, there's something that's very, very nauseating in my taste, and that is to meet people who say they've an interest in souls, but really in heart they've no interest in soul. One of the finest examples of a man that had an interest in souls was in the book of Job, chapter one. It says that Job prayed continually and daily and offered burnt offerings for his family consistently.
I'm saying to you, I'm not saying I would judge their motive, but I tell you their interest in souls was very, very negative. Mind you, I can hardly take it in that anyone's in Christian fellowship amongst us and has no interest in souls. I think everyone that's brought into the fellowship have, should have an interest in souls. You remember the dear man in John nine? You remember the apostle says, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? The Lord said, neither this man nor his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest among you. What do I want to take from that?
Simply this, there was more inquisitiveness about the apostles than there was interest in the man. Mind you, when people come in, there's an awful head turning. And after the meetings by, there's an awful talk, who is it, and who's his mother and granny, and where does he come from? And I know it may just be interest, but mind you, there's a very fine thread between two things, interest and inquisitiveness. I want you to know they weren't caring whether that man's sight was ever given back again. That was a great pity, indeed. You remember the Samaritans that didn't respond to the Lord in the gospel by John, and you do remember that James and John said, shall we call down fire out of heaven and consume them?
And the Lord Jesus Christ says, ye know not what spirit ye are of. What he's saying is this, you don't know the nature of my mission. You don't know the nature of my kingdom. He says, you know not what spirit ye are of. And what about that incident with the little children? You remember when the little children came to Christ, it says that the apostles would have fobbed them off and put them away, and those words which are memorial, he said, suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, you see, they would have forbidden them, forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. I wonder tonight how he felt when he saw amongst those that professed to follow him, they had not that deep interest in the souls of men.
Maybe I'm speaking to an audience tonight. When did you last bring someone along? We'll speak to the elders first. An elder is a person who should have a first interest in every interest of the assembly. An interest in the teaching, an interest in the gospel, an interest in the work amongst the children, an interest in the visiting. It's a very big, big, big, big thing to be an elder. Ah, but I want to tell you that if you're Christ's, then you should have an interest in the teaching, and you should have an interest in the children.
And even though you're not capable of doing it, and even though you're not capable of preaching it, you could attend it, couldn't you? And you could support it, and you could bless it with your prayers, couldn't you? But you know, there's nothing quite like a man or a woman who has a real interest in others, others. You know, that's what it'll take. You'll not need half the pills that you're consuming. You'll not need half the medicine you're consuming if you would just take a big interest in others. And the Lord pitied their lack of interest in others. Of course, everyone knows, I don't need to tell you here, everyone knows that it was for others he left the throne.
It was for others he took a body. It was for others he became poor, and it was just for others that he became dead. Oh, learn it tonight, my friends. He did pity the lack of interest in others. Maybe I should lay that down thick and underline it with red marks. I've noticed this about people who say, I can't speak to people, and you know, I'm not good in engaging in conversation. I've heard that from dozens, and you know, if you get them on a street corner or get them in a back kitchen with someone else, you couldn't hold candles to them talking. Oh, my friend, listen, please remember God has given you these abilities that you might convey his message, and ye are my witnesses, but how he bore with them and how he is borne with us, or we wouldn't be in existence tonight.
Not only so, I want you to see, eh, not only the lack of souls. Let me highlight that in the blessed Lord Jesus, his own concern for people. You remember the wearied with his journey, wearied with his journey. I think that it was with joy and, and with feeling he told the story of the Samaritan, how he got off and how he got down and how he went to a man that really was emaciated and wounded, and how he was naked and with nothing to pay back and nothing like that, and got him up and brought him on and brought him in and paid his way. Oh, the beauty of all that.
What stories like the prodigal and and the Samaritan? Wasn't he the one who preached this? A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. Oh, he saw man as bruised weeds. He saw the smoking flax, and he would not extinguish it and put it out. Oh, the tender compassions of Christ. Luke presents him as the real man after man with deep compassion. Oh, but how the Lord pitied them, and I'm sure he pities us as well. I thought too that there's another thing he pitied them for, and that was their unbelief, their unbelief.
I think that unbelief is the number one sin. Unbelief is the number one sin. Oh, says someone, I think it's morals and drink and, well, these are all very serious things, but you can take it from me that unbelief was the number one sin in the garden, and unbelief was the number one sin in the wilderness, and unbelief was the number one sin in the land, and unbelief was the number one sin amongst the Lord's apostles. He upbraided them because of their unbelief. Now, on this point, he will upbraid them, and on this point he will chide with them because unbelief is something that affects the very throne of God.
Christ cannot have amongst his members unbelief. You see, to get to heaven, we cannot be marked by unbelief, but this must travel right through all our experience, and we're going to see the things that they were marked by unbelief. You remember in the storm, oh, in the storm, unbelief. You remember he had told them to go to the other side? Go to the other side. And before they got to the other side, the vehement storm came up. And of course, before the story's finished, they feel they're going to die and they're going to perish. And if they'd only listened, go to the other side.
And half of our cares and worries, and we have them. Half of our cares and our worries are because of our unbelief. Now, there are cares. Don't let any of the brethren put you off that. And if there wasn't a burden to carry, he wouldn't tell you to cast it upon the Lord. And if there wasn't cares, he wouldn't tell you to cast them. There are cares. Well, there's something happens to us when we distrust the Lord and we don't rely upon his holy word. And as they're going over, the storm comes. Carest thou not that we perish?
And you know, when you're in a state of unbelief, you're always dying. When you're in a state of unbelief, things are ten times worse than they normally are. And so the Lord Jesus, he upbraids them because of their unbelief. What had they seen? They'd seen the loaves and the fishes. They'd seen the lepers and the blind. They'd seen the dead and the deaf. They'd seen it all, and yet they're trembling and fearing and quaking. Ah, but what about you dear people in Magaric tonight? My, you've seen some hand, you've seen the hand of the Lord. My, you've seen him lifting your family from here, and you, you've seen yourself with your back to the wall, and you felt like Paul, there was no sun or moon in many nights, and you wondered if ever you would get through this particular incident and another, but you come through.
And what about Monday again? You'll be unbelieving again, you know? And you know, you worry yourself and you tire yourself, and you take away your joy in prayer, and you take away your fellowship with others because when you're down, you want everybody down. And unbelief is the thing that drags us down. You know, belief is something that's sweet to God. It's as if he wants to burst the clouds and smile upon you when, when there's acts of belief, because it's just like pure worship be gone when we trust him. And oh, he's sad about the un- unbelief. I thought of that particular incident on the sea. I'd always thought Peter was very presumptive to put his leg over the boat at all.
I always thought that. I may be wrong, but I always thought he should never have walked on that sea. And you know, the end will justify what I'm saying. Oh, he walks on the sea, and everyone thinks he's wonderful. I'll tell you this, he didn't think he was wonderful. I tell you why. He never mentioned that incident again. He never ever told anyone in Bithynia and Cappadocia or anywhere like that. He never said, you know, I'm the man that walked on the sea. Maybe, and I hope he did tell them in the quiet moments, you know, I'm the man that sunk. I'm the man that went down. Oh, I did walk. But I did go down. You know, as long as there is eye on the Lord, he walked on the sea and did the supernatural.
But the minute he took his eye and his unbelief set in, what happened to him was the natural. He just sunk into the brain. Mind you, my brethren, you'll not believe this, but this is fact. If you would keep your eye on the Lord, you'll do the supernatural. You'll do things contrary to your very nature. But if you but once take your eye off the Lord, then you'll go down and do the thing that is natural. And notice that he thinks himself going to die. He's not going to die at all, but he thinks he is. And you know, there's lots of people think they're going to die, and there's lots of people think they're going to eh this and that and the other, but it's not true!
Dear Mr. Kundig, I think we all loved him. I hope we did anyway. He used to say, a man is immortal till his day has come. I love that. Don't get too worried. I know you'll need to go to the doctor if you feel the need of it and all that. We've all had to do that. But don't get too worried about it. Keep your eye on the Lord. He'll never bring a thing to pass that'll grieve you. He'll never bring a thing to pass that'll ever, eh, waste your confidence in him. Oh, Peter, and thank God he knew that day the big strong arm of Christ and Christ lifting him up.
You know, it's sad when we went down. There'd be a lot of people up this side has went down. There's a few on this side too, maybe the most of you. But there was something about the feeling when you felt the lift of Christ's hand just lifting you back up again and bearing you into the vessel. Oh, my friend, these are dreadful experiences. One minute on the crest of the wave, walking along, the next minute right down on the very trough, and then the next minute feeling the lift. Oh, they're strange, but I'm sure of this, that Peter never forgot it. And this is the general experience of God, all God's people. And that was not just a strong arm there.
I want to suggest to you it was a very pitiful arm that lifted him up out of the watery waste. I want you to see that their lack of faith was the reason for the loss of power at the foot of the mountain. The loss of power at the foot of the mountain. You remember the saddest sight, possibly, I'm not going to say the saddest, that would be an exaggeration. One of the saddest sights after the Mount of Transfiguration, I think they're linked, of course, the mountain and the valley, was to see the lunatic boy and to see his da.
And you remember they came to the apostles and they said, we came to thy disciples, but they could do nothing. Mind you, I don't know if you've thought this way, but this is the way I think. I'm sure those apostles had done all they could. By that I mean they'd said all the words that had worked before. You know, they had healed people, lunatics, and they had delivered demoniacs, and they had cured. And I'm sure possibly everyone heard them saying, be healed, and everyone heard them saying, be delivered. Mind you, it was a very embarrassing. We came to thy disciples, but they could not cast him out.
Bring him to me, bring him to me. But before he said, bring him to me, this is what he's saying. Oh, faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him to me. Maybe there's a mother and a father in here, and they're worried about their children getting saved. I want to say this to you. That passage teaches that the devil gets into the children at a very early age. And I want to tell you that even when Christ begins to move and call them, that the devil tries his last fling with them. For it says that the boy was torn by the devil, and he lay as dead until the people said he is dead.
What am I saying to you? I want you to understand it's a serious thing. It's a serious thing to deliver people, and it's only the word of Christ and the work of Christ. But I love these words, bring them to me. Now, the apostles are very, very cute, very sly. When they got him alone, they said, why could not we cast him out? Oh, they didn't want public embarrassment. He says to them, this kind cometh not out but by prayer and fasting. What did he mean? He says there's a kind, there's a kind.
Oh, there's a kind in Acts. The Lord opens their heart. There's a kind in Acts, Cornelius, and he believed with all his house. There's a kind in the Acts, and the earthquake wakens him up. And there's another man that it needs the Damascus Road, and there's another kind that needs prayer and fasting. What then is prayer and fasting? Prayer is bringing God in. Fasting is keeping self out. Fasting is showing to God that the thing you're praying about is your top priority. I hope that abbreviates that. Showing to God that meat and meals and things don't matter a- anymore, except the matter you have in mind.
Now that's what the Savior's teaching. This kind cometh not out but by prayer and fasting. Oh, faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? Bring him to me. I think too the pity the Lord showed in their, in their attitude towards one another, their attitude towards one another. You remember it was in a very serious vein and at a very serious time the Lord uses these words. He says, what was it that ye disputed by the way? What was it that you talked about?
What was it that you cast out about? What was it you had difference about? And of course, there was a, there was what we call a stony silence. What was it they had talked about? Going to more preaching? Getting to more praying? Having more meetings? Wanting to reach some poor district? What were they talking about? What was their time taken up with talking about? Who should be the greatest? I have a firm belief that when we meet to discuss the affairs of the assembly, I believe we should be talking about some of the things that I've mentioned.
Things that are spiritual, things that have to do with the witness of God, things that have to do with the testimony of God, things that have to do with the branching in the gospel, things that have to do with the teaching of the saints. These are the things that we should be discussing, by the way. But what were ye discussing? Who should be the greatest? Do you know what clogs the machinery of assembly life? It's not suggestions for more meetings. It's not the suggestions for more visitations. It's not the suggestion for more sacrificial giving.
What clogs it is this, that there's somebody or someones, and they're wanting place, and they're wanting their opinion to be held. What was it that ye disputed, by the way? And so, my friend, their lack of power all became because they were self-centered and had personal interests at heart. Twelve men are in John thirteen, and their attitude to one another is this, that there's not one among them has the grace to wash each other's feet.
Not one of them has the grace to wash each other's feet. Now, I think if you got Peter and John together, do you know what I mean, just in a house by themselves? I think maybe, I do think that John would wash Peter's feet. And I'm sure maybe the other Galileans, he would wash their feet. And I'm sure there's a possibility they may just have done each other's feet, but no one was going to do all their feet. Who was going to do doubting Thomas's feet? Who was going to do with greedy Judas's feet? Who was going to do them all? Peter has a little bit of conscience about what's happening, but, you know, he he's very extreme in all that he wants to do at that stage.
But the blessed Lord, and notice the word that's used, if I then your Lord and Master, he means if I then your sovereign Lord and Master, and that just means I can do what I like, when I like, where I like, to whom I like. I'm not under duress. I'm not under any pressure to do this to you. I'm your sovereign Lord and Master. And if I have bowed to wash your soiled feet, ye ought also to wash one another's feet. Oh, he was sad, and he must have pitied their attitudes towards each other. That's very, very important in my judgment.
I think too, I'm coming in closer now, and I want to stop on time. I think he must have had great wells of pity for Peter's vaunted pride. Peter says, though all forsake thee, Lord, yet will not I. Lord, I'll go to, I'll actually die for you. I'll die for you. Now, may I say this very, very calmly, that that was nothing else but doses of vaunted pride. The man as yet had never discovered his own heart. The man never knew his own susceptibilities to failure, and there's many a thing a man says, and you know, in later life he wished he could have cut out his tongue.
May you understand, my friend, what pity the Lord had for that man. He says to him, Simon, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt have denied me thrice. Oh, I can see Peter strutting. You know, Peter really was the cock crow. You all believe that, don't you? Peter really was the cockroach, wasn't he? You know, sitting on the, on the wall and, and roosting and crowing and crowing and crowing and crowing, crowing, I'm, I'm the best, I'm the biggest. I'll... He was just crowing, that was all. The Lord says, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt have denied me thrice. It's quick, it's great how you forget, you know.
It's great how in an hour you can forget. And as the time wore on, and as the little girl began to press him, press him, press him, thou art, thou art one of his disciples, and thou art a Galilean, thy speech betrayeth thee. Thou art, I am not. And he, and he did it with oaths and with curses, and the cock began to crow. I thank God just at that moment when the cock began to crow, I think Peter began to grow. The tears begin to come, not crocodile tears, the tears that only a man knows who has gone the wrong way, said the wrong thing, impression he never meant to give.
When he feels his own, the slippery gathering slight touch. I tell you, Peter felt worse at that moment than he did slipping down into the water. Oh, how the Lord pitied him, how the Lord pitied him. And as the blessed Lord is going onto the cross and taken out of the judgment hall, he looked on Peter. He looked, he looked on Peter. That's why we sing it, isn't it? 'Tis the look that melted Peter. 'Twas the face that Stephen saw. Oh, if anyone should have been angry with Peter, oaths and curses and, and denial. Ah, but the Lord looked at him, and just that look of pity broke the man forever.
He never would crow again, and he never would take a place again because the pitying eye of the Lord had looked upon him. I don't know if this is your experience. I hope it is, for I hope I would never like to be an oddity. I've seen those times in my life when I felt I deserved the rod of God, and just in some way, or in some word, or in some text or verse, the Lord just mentioned something that broke me in a way that I never thought even his rod and even his chastisement couldn't break me. There is just a way the Lord has in looking.
There is a way the Lord has in speaking. There is a way the Lord has in adjusting that no one else has. Oh, the Lord is very, very pitiful, and it is a good, eh, job for us. I want you to see how pitiful he was for their deficiencies. Maybe that's, that's the best word I can find anyway, for their deficiencies. You remember when he was being, I was going to say glorified, but transfigured on the mountain. You remember they were very heavy, very heavy with sleep. You remember when he was in the grief in the garden?
Again, they were very, very heavy with sleep. Again, when they come to take him, they all forsook him and fled, but oh how, oh how lovingly he dealt with their deficiencies. I can never get over that passage in the garden when after they had slept and went back and he tried to waken them, can you not watch one hour? And how at the end of his deepest grief he says, sleep on now and take thy rest. Oh, what thoughtfulness is in the heart of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. I want to say in closing, because I will close, I was wondering if we could turn the meeting round in this way and put the suggestion over to you.
I wondered in their later years, when all these matters that the Lord had been pitiful with them in, I wonder when, after the Lord is raised and ascended on high, and they went out into the vast world to preach the gospel. I often wonder what kind of people they would meet. I often wondered if they would meet some people just like themselves. I just wonder how Thomas would be affected when he met another doubting Thomas, for you remember he was a twin, wasn't he? So that there's always others like him, other twins. Do you understand? There's always people like him, and there'll be a few in this room. I wonder if Thomas would tell the story of how the Lord says to him, take forth thy finger and put it into my hand.
Take forth thy hand and thrust it into my side. I wonder if Thomas would go over it all. Would he learn the lesson? That's the point I'm getting at. I wonder when Peter met someone about Cappadocia, Bithynia, or Babylon, wherever he wrote from, and he saw someone getting up and strutting and boasting and talking and saying that he was something more than others. I wonder if Peter would tell him about the story. Or I wonder if Peter, every morning that he rose and heard the cockerel crowing, would constantly keep himself in mind of his own failures and his own demises and his own particular, eh, eh, failures.
I'm going to take two minutes. It is un- unquestionable that the Lord was pitiful. But the Bible tells me that I have to be pitiful. That means that I have to have an understanding heart. That is that I have to have feelings. That is that I have to have bells of mercies. That is that I have to have compassion. And as Christ is daily and hourly pitying me, then I must have that pitiful disposition. It's the disposition of our Father, like as a father pitieth his children.
And generally, my friend, I know there are exceptions, but it comes out in the bone, the breeding. And the intention of the Kingdom Gospel was that you might be like your father, which is in heaven. That is that the children of the Kingdom are intended to be like their father. And there should be family resemblances and family features. Be pitiful. Are you a pitiful soul in your meeting?
When anyone is in distress, are you the last on the phone and up the road? To someone, I'm not a visitor. To some people, not anything. Do you care? Do you feel? You know, to be in the body of Christ is tantamount to feel everybody's pains, and it's tantamount to rejoice with everyone's rejoicings. And when all is exalted and blessed and enriched and prospered, I should be happy. When someone is down and out and weary and sad, my heart should be breaking with theirs.
Is it not said of Christ that he carried our infirmities? Am I pitiful? Am I courteous? See, pitiful, courteous. I never knew the truth of God being enhanced by a rude man. I never knew the truth of God ever advancing an inch by bad manners. I never knew the truth of God to be admired by sulking. But I've always noticed that the man that's courteous, now I don't mean suaveness. I don't mean just, you know what I mean, politeness, oxydol smile type.
That's not what I mean at all. But real courtesy that has been procured and cultivated in the presence of God, that looks on men and women and covets them for Christ, that looks on the saints of God, knowing that they are Christ. I never once believed that a man loved Christ that didn't love Christ. Not only the begetter, but the begotten. And so we're asked to be pitiful, to be courteous. That's my message to you.
He was pitiful. He was courteous. I'm sure he knew Simon the Pharisee through and through. Knew his own mean, circumscribed heart. Thou gavest me no, thou gavest me no ointment, thou gavest me no water, thou gavest me, thou gavest me. But he still went. And he sat there. Oh, he was courteous. You know, when Nicodemus come, who is quite like the Archbishop of Canterbury, really, isn't he? Far better man, of course. When he came to Christ, notice Christ had time for him, and Christ had time for a private interview with him, and he understood that a man of his stature didn't want to be amongst the crowd, and they talked it over, and I'm sure he found Christ that night to be his savior.
However, he's equally got the time courteously for the woman, sitting at the well and waiting for her, and the way he brings it all on. Oh, you know, we would be right in and hammer the point home. It's time you were getting things sorted out at home. And oh, he tells her about worship and true worship, and no worship here or there, but they that worship the Father shall worship in spirit and in truth. And oh, the courtesy of Christ. Oh, the courtesy when he's up in Galilee in the northern parts where they weren't educated. And oh, the courtesy when he was in Judea amongst the educated and the religionist. Oh, his manners were absolutely impeccable.
Now we'll never get to that. But he's pitiful and courteous. Shall we pray?