I want to you to picture in your mind that great multitude on which Jesus had compassion.
I want to tell you about some who came to Jesus and found help and healing.

A Leper

Watch with me as a man approaches Jesus.
This man is covered with leprosy.
He was banished from his home.
He was banished from his family and friends.
Now he comes to Jesus with his horrible condition.

Think of how much he had suffered.
He had to put on certain clothes so that anyone coming near him would know that he was unclean.
When he saw anyone approaching him, he had to cry out, " Unclean! Unclean! Unclean!"
If his own wife were to come to him to tell him that a beloved child was dying,
he could not come near her.
He had to run from her.
He might hear her voice from a distance, but he could not come near his wife or a dying child.

He was, as it were, in a living grave.
It was worse than death.
He was dying by inches.
He was an outcast and there was no one to help him.
What a horrible existence.

Then Christ comes by and the Bible says that when Christ saw him, He was moved with compassion.
His heart went out to this miserable, lonely leper.

The leper cried out, "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean!"
He believed that Jesus could heal him.
Jesus said, "I will; be thou clean!"
The leprosy left the man immediately, and he was healed and whole again.
What a scene!

Look at that man on his way home to his wife and children and friends.

Now come with me to a little home at Nain. When we arrive at that little home at Nain we find a poor widow.
Sometime before this she had buried her husband, and she had an only son left.

The time comes to take his body to be buried.
Many of you have gone to a grave and have seen parents say goodbye to a child for the last time.
It breaks your heart.
This mother kisses the forehead of her son.
It is her last kiss, her last look, her last moment to hold him, and then he was covered up
and put on a funeral bier to be carried out to the cemetery.
She had many friends who would accompany her that day.
The little town of Nain was moved at the sight of the widow’s only son being carried away to be buried.

See that great crowd as they come walking out of the city’s gates.
Over to the side are thirteen men, weary, dusty, and tired.
They have to stand by the wayside to let this great crowd pass.
The Son of God is in this group, and the others with him are His disciples.

He looks upon that scene.
He sees that mother’s broken heart.
His heart is touched.
The great heart of the Son of God is moved with compassion.
He came up to the procession and touched the bier, and said, "Young man, arise!"
And the young man sat up!

The multitude is startled and astonished.
The widowed mother is thrilled beyond words.
She goes back to her little home at Nain rejoicing with the morning rays of the resurrection
shining in her heart.
Her son was restored to her.
All her hopes were alive, and she was holding her beloved son in her arms once again.
Jesus had compassion on her.

There are those who have had the experience of death coming into their homes and taking those
who were dearly loved away from them.
There are those who have never recovered from the loss of one who was so precious to you.
There are those whose hearts are still broken and aching.

I would say to each one of you that Jesus is the friend you need.

The Man Who Was Robbed

I want you to look with me at a man going down to Jericho and who fell among thieves.

What will happen to that poor man if someone doesn’t come by soon and help him.
Again, our spirits are lifted.
Here comes a Levite.
Surely, he will stop and give this man some needed care.
But he must not have wanted to get involved, because he passed by on the other side.
There are many today like that priest and Levite who will see a soul in desperate need
and do not wish to get involved and simply pass by on the other side.

At last a Samaritan came down that way.
He looked on the man and had compassion on him.
He got off his beast, took oil and poured it into the man’s wounds, bound them up, took him out of the ditch,
placed him on his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
That good Samaritan represents our Christ.
He came into the world to seek and save that which was lost.

There are those who have fallen in with the bad companions.
They have taken you to places of sin.
They have left you bleeding and wounded.
Come now to the Son of God.
He will have compassion on you.
He will lift you out of the pit of despair into His glorious kingdom into the heights of glory.

An Ungrateful Son

Look with me again.
It is in Luke chapter 15.
It is the story of a son who was terribly ungrateful.
He could not wait for his inheritance which he would receive after his father’s death.
He wants his share at once.
So, he said to his father, " Give me the goods that belong to me." His father gives him his goods and away he goes.

His money runs out.
His friends run out.
They laugh at him.
The devil is a hard master.
What a blind, misguided young man he was!

Look at what he lost!

The prodigal screams back, "Don’t talk to me like that. My father is a rich man,
and has servants are better dressed than you are."
His taunters respond, "Don’t tell us that. If you had a father like that he wouldn’t claim you!"

No one would believe him.
No one believes a backslider.
No one listens to a loser.

At last the poor prodigal comes to himself, and says, "I will arise and go to my father..."
So he starts for home.
Look at him.

One day the father sees someone way off in the distance.
It might be his son, but he has thought that so many times only to be disappointed.
The person gets closer.
He walks like my boy.
Then he exclaims, " Oh Yes! That’s my son!"
He rushes down the stairs.
He rushes along the road.
He is running!

The boy is anxious to tell him his story.
He wants to tell his father what a horrible mistake he has made.
He wants to tell his father how he has sinned against him.

The father just reaches out and embraces him and cries, " My son is home!"
His son said that he wanted to go to the kitchen and live with the servants because he didn’t
deserve to be in his father’s house.
His father would hear none of that.
He told the servants to put shoes on his feet, and a ring on his finger, and kill the fatted calf, and make merry.
"My son has come home! Let’s all rejoice!"

I say to all who have wandered away from God.
Come home!
Life for you has been miserable.
Come to Jesus and find the peace and joy that you have longed for.
You will rejoice.
We will rejoice with you.
And all who have prayed for you will rejoice.
All heaven will rejoice with us.

Jesus Weeps Over Jerusalem

Look at Jesus!
He comes to Mount Olivet.

Look at Jesus weeping over Jerusalem.
What a great city.
How exalted to heaven it was!
If they had only known who was visiting them and had received Him instead of rejecting Him.
How He would have blessed them!

If we could look into the heart of God we would see Him weeping over our city.