In Jason Dohm's sermon 'The Harvest is Plentiful,' he explores the structure of the book of Matthew, highlighting its five couplets of teachings and narratives, culminating in the Great Commission. The sermon focuses on Jesus' miraculous works in Galilee, emphasizing his authority over nature, disease, and the spiritual realm, showcased through numerous healings and teachings. Dohm delves into the significance of the title 'Son of David' as a Messianic identifier, linking Jesus to Old Testament prophecies. He underscores the importance of faith, as exemplified by the blind men and the Canaanite woman, and highlights Jesus' compassion for the multitudes, likening them to sheep without a shepherd. The sermon concludes with a call to prayer for laborers in the plentiful harvest, emphasizing the need for personal faith and evangelism.

So every once in a while as we go through Matthew, we've just been reviewing the structure of the book. So here's just a reminder. The first four chapters of Matthew serve as an introduction. It gets us ready for everything that's coming after that. The rest of the book is predominantly five different couplets.

Here's what I mean by a couplet. A discourse, a sermon, a teaching by Jesus, a concentrated teaching, followed by a narrative, accounts of what Jesus was going about and doing. And so this is what we find. There will be a concentrated teaching by Jesus, a sermon, and it will be followed by what he's going about doing. And that happens five times over.

A sermon and a narrative. And then another sermon and another narrative. And that pattern happens five times. And then at the very end, there's this epilogue at the end of chapter 28 where we get the Great Commission. So just to orient us of where we are in this, today's text brings us to the end of our first narrative.

The first sermon was this unbelievably wonderful sermon on the mount that we spent so much time looking at, the beautiful teaching of Jesus Christ. And now we've spent two chapters in what Jesus was actually going about and doing in Galilee. And during these couple of chapters, the narrative has been piled high with the miraculous things, the supernatural things, the inexplicable things that Jesus has been doing. Listen to Matthew pile it up. This is over three chapters.

The end of chapter four and then chapters eight and nine following the Sermon on the Mount. In chapter 4, verses 1 through 11, Jesus has this mighty victory over the temptations of the devil. In chapter 4, verse 23, It says that Jesus was going about all Galilee, healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of diseases among the people. And then in the very next verse, it says that people were bringing to him all who were afflicted with various diseases and torments and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics and paralytics. And he heals them all.

So there in 423, we have this summary verse that talks about all manner of things. We don't get any of the individual accounts, but it just says Jesus is doing all this. People are bringing them all these kinds of diseases and infirmities, and he's healing all of them. Then in chapter 8, verse 3, Jesus cleanses a leper. Then in chapter 8, verse 13, The centurion comes on behalf of his servant.

And Jesus heals his servant remotely. Jesus doesn't even have to go where the infirm person is. He can just pronounce that person healed and it's so. And Then in chapter 8 verse 16, we get another summary statement that says that Jesus is casting out spirits with a word and healing all who are sick. So that's our second summary statement.

It just lumps together a lot of miracles that we don't get any individual visibility to. But it's an indication that Jesus is just doing this ongoing. Then in chapter 8, verse 26, Jesus rebukes the winds and the sea, and immediately they're silent. And then in chapter 8, verse 32, Jesus casts the demons out of two demon-possessed men. And then in chapter 9, verse 7, He heals a paralytic.

And then in chapter 9 verse 22, we have the woman who has had a flow of blood for 12 years and she reaches out to touch the hem of his garment and she is immediately made well. And then in chapter 9 verse 25, the last thing we touched on last week, Jairus' daughter has died, she is dead. And Jesus comes and he lays his hand on her and he speaks to her. And she raises from the dead. Now this is great reading.

This is exciting stuff. But as a preacher, when you come to the end of this, these are nine individual accounts of what Jesus is doing. And then two summary statements mixed in there. And as a preacher, you start to think, what else is there to say about these things that hasn't already been said? What do I say?

That Jesus is still mighty this week? Here's another miracle. Jesus is still mighty. That Jesus still has authority over disease and nature and the spiritual realm and sin and death. Yes, just like last week, Jesus still has all these things.

Jesus is still full of mercy this week. Here we have another account with some more miracles. And it just means what it meant last week, that Jesus is still full of mercy. I think John chapter 20 will help us think about why Matthew would pile up all these miracles and what it means to us to just see it, one after the other, after the other, after the other, after the other, after the other of Jesus doing these same types of things. Here's what John 20, verses 30 and 31 says.

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. This is what the gospel writers are doing. There's so many things that aren't even recorded here. Even though we've been given summary statements, there are many things that the gospel writers don't even touch on that Jesus did that were miraculous.

But they gave us the things that are here so that we may believe that Jesus Christ is the Christ, that he is the Son of God, and that believing we may have life. That's why the piling up. Jesus Christ is the Messiah. And we've been given this multitude of accounts that we might know with certainty that Jesus is the one that the Old Testament was pointing to again and again and again through the words of the prophets and through all the things that foreshadowed him coming, like the sacrificial system and on and on. And the multitude of miracles is given to us so that we can see with such clarity that Jesus Christ was so much greater than any that ever came before him or any that followed after him.

Who has this piling up? Who else can claim to have this piling up of miracles other than Jesus Christ? So now we come to the text beginning in verse 27. And I'm going to break today's text into three different sections. The first section is 27 through 31.

So Jesus has just raised this girl from the dead. When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed him, crying out and saying, Son of David, have mercy on us. And when he had come into the house, the blind men came to him. And Jesus said to them, Do you believe that I am able to do this? They said to him, Yes, Lord.

Then he touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith, let it be to you." And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, see that no one knows it. But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country. So Jesus has just raised this girl from the dead, this 12 year old girl, and given her back to her parents. And he leaves there, when he leaves there, there are two men trailing behind him, and they're blind men.

And they're calling out to him, They're crying out, Son of David, have mercy on us. And this is the second time in the book of Matthew that we've encountered the term or the title, Son of David. The first time was in the very first verse of the book, which says, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. And Both of these, being the son of David and being the son of Abraham, they are two landmarks, two really important landmarks in the genealogy. But they're not just that.

They're not just towers in the genealogical list. They're actually titles from the Old Testament that mean a lot, both of them. We can have a whole sermon on the son of David. We can have a whole sermon on the son of Abraham. And you can be thankful that we're not having either of those today.

But they're very meaningful titles. The first time we encounter the concept of the Son of David and it being attached to this Messiah that's been promised is in 2 Samuel 7, where God says, of David's seed, your throne shall be established forever. Since 2 Samuel, God has been repeatedly teaching this, that on the throne of David, there will be a son of David, and that throne will be established forever. And it's many, many places in the Old Testament. But I'll give you one right now from the book of Isaiah, Isaiah 11, verses 1 and 2, Where God says, There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse.

The stem of Jesse is David. There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Isaiah speaks so plainly of a son of David who will come and have the spirit of the Lord upon him, unlike any other. And Isaiah speaks so frequently of this.

Taylor read out of Isaiah 9 today. Same thing. The books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel are full of talk about this son of David who will come and establish an everlasting throne. And so this is not so, when these blind men cry out, son of David, we're not talking about something that is obscure, that maybe looking back on it, you'd say, oh, OK, There's some sort of a connection between the Son of David and the Messiah. It was so well understood, even in the time of Jesus, even before the appearing of Jesus, that this is what people were waiting for.

They were waiting for the Son of David. To the extent, when we get to Matthew 22, in Matthew 22, 42, Jesus is going to be face to face with the Pharisees. And Jesus is going to ask them this. What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?

And the Pharisees will say to him, the son of David. So this was the common expectation. It was an understanding of the multiple places in the Old Testament where God had promised that he was going to raise up a son of David and establish an everlasting throne. So the link between son of David, what this title means and that this would be the Messiah is understood by everybody here in the picture. Here's what is said about the Messiah in Isaiah 29, verse 18.

Isaiah 29, 18. In that day, in the day of the Messiah, the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness." There are promises, many promises in the Old Testament, that there are going to be certain markers when this son of David who is coming to establish an everlasting throne, when he comes there will be certain markers that will make it clear that he's come. And one of the things is that the deaf will hear. One of the things is that the blind will see. One of the things is that the mute will be able to speak again.

Listen to Isaiah 35 verses 5 and 6. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. Jesus Christ is the living water and he's bursting forth in the wilderness.

And what that means is when he comes on the scene, the blind will see again. The deaf will hear again. The mute will be able to sing the praises of God when they've never sung the praises of God before. In this text, in the text that we're studying here in Matthew 9, The son of David is proclaimed here by these blind men. And the blind are made to see, and the mute man is made to speak.

And all this is very intentional. This is not coincidental that we have a text with the son of David side by side with blind men being given their sight, and side by side with a mute man with his voice restored. Jesus did not come to destroy the law. He came to fulfill it. And here he is, fulfilling the law and the prophets.

All these things God had been saying. When the Messiah comes, these things will happen. The blind will see. The deaf will hear. The mute will speak.

And now Jesus is here in these clear markers that God has given to identify when the Christ is there. All these things are being fulfilled. All these things are happening before their very eyes. In a couple of chapters in Matthew 11, John The Baptist will be in prison and he'll send his disciples to ask Jesus, are you the coming one or do we look for another? And here's what Jesus says, go and tell John the things which you hear and see, the blind see, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear.

The dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to him." When the question is put to Jesus by the disciples of John the Baptist, Are you the coming one or should we look for another? He just says, look what's happening all around me. Look what I'm doing. And it's understood that John will recognize all those things that were said in the Old Testament, given as markers that when the Messiah comes, these are the things that will be happening. So he doesn't even need to address the question any more directly than that.

He can just say the things that he's doing, and he knows that those will be recognized as markers of the Messiah coming. So these two men, they're trailing behind Jesus, they're calling out to him for mercy. They're calling him the son of David, this incredibly significant label. And they're asking for mercy that the Messiah would come and overthrow this physical infirmity that no one else can do anything about. The blind men during that time are not going to the doctor.

There's nothing that can be done for them. These men have not tried a remedy, and who knows how long, if ever. And yet, these men also know, Think if you're blind. Think if you're blind and you're hearing the law of God read to you and you begin to come across these passages that talk about the blind receiving their sight. Do you think their radar didn't go up when these passages were read in the synagogues?

Do you think when Isaiah 35 was read in the synagogues and these blind men are hearing the Word of God about the blind receiving their sight, that they weren't the ones above all else who were attentive in that moment. And so when they hear about these things starting to happen, you can imagine what they were thinking. You can imagine the anticipation. So when Jesus comes by, they seize their moment, and they cry out that the Son of David would have mercy upon them. So that's what these two men are doing.

What's Jesus doing? Silence. Silence. He just walks on by. As far as we can tell from what is recorded, Jesus doesn't stop and Jesus doesn't say a word, he just walks by.

Now you can't make too much from that because We know from previous weeks that Matthew likes to condense these things. So maybe things were said that aren't recorded here. Maybe he did stop. But we know for sure that he doesn't resolve things here. The action doesn't happen here.

At the very least, we can say that with confidence. The action doesn't happen here. He does not heal them here. He marches on. He proceeds on.

And he comes to the house. And these men, rather than being put off, rather than be discouraged, they follow him into the house. And they come to him in the house and Jesus says this, do you believe that I am able to do this? To me this is such a clear marker that he is testing these men's faith. They cry out, they are asking for mercy and he doesn't say a word.

He just keeps walking onto his destination. And this is a trial of their faith and it's so confirmed by what he's asking here. Do you believe that I am able to do this? It's hard not to read this passage without thinking about the Canaanite woman who comes to Jesus. She has a demon possessed daughter.

And it has almost an identical structure to this. Listen, she comes and says, have mercy on me, oh Lord, son of David. Almost word for word what these blind men are crying out. When we get to Matthew 15 around verse 20, this is exactly what we're going to see. This Canaanite woman coming and saying, have mercy on me, oh Lord, son of David.

And then the text says in Matthew 15, but he answered her not a word. It's just like here in Matthew 9 with the blind men. He answers them, not a word. And then with her, he even says, it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs. And in that text, in Matthew 15, When we come to it, we'll find that she's just like these blind men.

She is not deterred. She presses on to get what she is crying out to Jesus for. Others might be discouraged by the fact that Jesus walked by and didn't say anything, and they had to follow him further. But these men are undeterred. And in Matthew 15, this woman is undeterred.

So Jesus asked the question, do you believe I'm able to do this? And they answer, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Jesus touches their eyes and acknowledges the authenticity of their faith. It's an acknowledgement that their faith is real.

He says, according to your faith, let it be to you. Because you believe that I'm able, then I'm willing. Because you believe that I'm able, then I'm willing to do it. This brings us to a question. How are you asking and seeking and knocking?

In the Sermon on the Mount, we had this command of Jesus to ask and to seek and to knock. And these men in Matthew 9 and that woman in Matthew 15 are determined because of their confidence in Jesus. They are not to be put off. Not because they think they can press the matter with Jesus and get Him to do something that He is unwilling to do, but they have unshakable confidence in Jesus. So they're not about to be discouraged or rebuffed by a little silence.

How are you asking and seeking and knocking? Do we know how to seek God for help like this? Is this our pattern in our asking and seeking and knocking? Or do we ask once and then if we get nothing but silence back, We're done with the matter. We just move on to the next thing.

This is not what we see patterned for us in these two blind men. James 1, 6-8. But let him ask in faith with no doubting. For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.

He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." And James 1 is talking about asking for wisdom. But there's a broader principle here. When we ask, we must ask without doubting. We must be undeterred by little silence. And we must persevere in our seeking the Lord for help like these blind men were.

Why is Jesus testing these men's faith? Why? Is it so he can find out whether they really have faith or not? No, he knows that already. He doesn't need that to determine whether they're faith.

But he's strengthening the faith that is there. And that's exactly what James 1 says. James 1 tells us to rejoice in trials because trials bring about the testing of our faith. And then in James 1, this same passage, it says that the testing of our faith produces patience, and then it says, but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Jesus isn't doing this to add to his own knowledge of the situation, to know whether their faith is true or not.

He already knows that he is God. But He's discipling. He is testing faith so that there will be a growth in patience, so that patience can do its perfect work, that we might be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Do you know that there's precedence for Jesus to be silent when we ask as a discipleship tool? That He would disciple us that way?

That He would give us silence so that we'll persevere, so that we'll Learn patience because patience bears fruit. And the fruit of it is that we'll be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. This is why Jesus tests our faith. Not so that he'll know, but so that we'll grow in maturity. The account ends this way.

Jesus warns them sternly. And he says, see that no one knows it. And The very next word is but. But. Our author draws the contrast and they don't obey.

They don't obey Jesus. Matthew Henry says this. Of the man going out and spreading the fame of Jesus. This was more an act of zeal than of prudence. And though it may be excused as honestly meant for the honor of Christ, yet it cannot be justified being done against a particular charge.

Whenever we profess to direct our intention to the glory of God, we must see to it that the action be according to the will of God." This is incredibly important. Listen to that last phrase again. Whenever we profess to direct our intention to the glory of God, we must see to it that the action be according to the will of God. What Matthew Henry is saying there is, we can excuse a little zeal from these men who had not been brought to maturity yet, but we can't justify it. If they were desiring the glory of God, whenever we go to increase the glory of God, to address and spread the glory of God, it has to be done according to the will of God.

And God Himself had expressed what that will was here. This is a very valuable thing for us to learn from this text. Now why? Why doesn't Jesus want them to say anything? Well, the real answer, the best answer, is the text doesn't say.

The text does not say why he didn't want to. It could have been what we recited from Matthew 6, the Sermon on the Mount, that when charitable deeds are done, that the left hand shouldn't even know what the right hand is doing. And Jesus is modeling this. He's doing the most charitable of deeds in healing these blind men and restoring their sight. And so he's modeling what he's teaching us.

He's doing a charitable deed, and he doesn't want it to be done before men, for the applause of men. That's possible. It could be that he just doesn't want to be known just as a miracle worker, that really the emphasis is his teachings and that people would actually learn the things that he's teaching, not just come to him for physical healing. Very possible. Here's what I think it is, though.

I think John 6, 15 informs us why Jesus would do this. In John 6, 15, Jesus has just fed 5, 000 people with five loaves and two fish. And here's John 6, 15. Therefore, when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone. Jesus is not building that kind of kingdom.

Jesus doesn't want to draw crowds by miracles so that it furthers advancing an earthly kingdom. So that they'll make him king. He wants no part of that in John 6. He's building a heavenly kingdom of those who are poor in spirit and who mourn and who are meek and who are peacemakers and who hunger and thirst for righteousness and and thirst for righteousness, and who rejoice when they are persecuted. And so, the fame from miracles is not the kind of advancement that he's looking for, because it's a different kind of kingdom.

Two blind men woke up that morning. It was like every other morning. They couldn't see. They had all the normal disadvantages of being blind. They went to bed that night in a completely different world, in a world they could see.

And their lives were transformed by Jesus. These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that believing, you may have life in His name. The next section of the text starts in verse 32. Matthew 9.32.

As they went out, behold, they brought to him a man, mute and demon possessed. And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, it was never seen like this in Israel. But the Pharisees said, he casts out demons by the ruler of the demons. Here we have another instance addressed by the Messianic prophecies.

We have a mute man that is brought. This takes us right back to what I've already read out of Isaiah 35, that in the time of the Messiah, the mute will sing. The mute will sing. And like the paralytic, at the beginning of this chapter, he's brought to Jesus by others. He doesn't come himself.

He doesn't cry out for mercy. He has no way to solicit the help of Jesus. And yet, friends, apparently friends, bring him. And Jesus instantly understands the source of the problem. And the source is that he's demon possessed.

This is not simply physiological. And it's something spiritual, deeply spiritual, demon possession. And it has manifested itself in him not being able to speak. Verse 33 says, and when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. So Jesus knows exactly what's the source of the problem.

And he addresses the source of the problem by just casting this demon out. And as soon as the source of the problem is gone, the infirmity is gone, and this man is able to speak. And the multitude cannot believe their eyes. And they say, it has never been seen like this in Israel. Pharisees do not like this pronouncement.

It has never been seen like this in Israel. That pronouncement elicits a very violent response from the Pharisees, not physically violent, But they react against the pronouncement that's being made by the multitudes. And they say, he casts out demons by the ruler of the demons. Now at this point, we're going to set aside a lot of this and just save it for Matthew 12. Something similar is going to happen in Matthew 12.

Again, the Pharisees are going to say, he casts out demons by the prince of the demons. And Jesus is going to address that at length. So rather than to preach that sermon now, we'll preach it a month and a half from now when we actually get to that text. Because the response isn't in this text. Here's what we should get from this text.

These works that Jesus are doing are undeniable. They're undeniable. There are people who know this mute man that know that he couldn't speak, and now he can speak. There are people who know the blind man, know that they couldn't see, but now that they can see. And so there's facts are stubborn things.

There's no denying the facts. The blind are seeing. The mute is speaking. So now there's nothing left but interpretation of the facts. The works are undeniable and now the works must be interpreted.

And the blind men have already given their interpretation. Son of David, that's why the blind can see, because Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the promised Messiah that you find all throughout the Old Testament. And now the Pharisees are giving their interpretation. False prophet, counterfeit miracles. They believe that what is unfolding before their eyes is just like the magicians in Egypt before the time of Exodus who could do these miraculous things.

But they were counterfeit miracles done by false prophets. Why? Why would they say this? Not because the works of Jesus don't have all the marks of genuine works of God. They have all the marks of it.

The sound doctrine that comes with it, the pure life that comes with it. But because the Pharisees themselves are feeling indicted. It can be that this would be the Messiah because the Pharisees are indicted by these works that they see Jesus doing. And so that becomes their lenses, that becomes the grid that they interpret the works of Jesus through, because they feel indicted. More on that in a minute.

We're going to develop that thought in a minute. We'll just put it off to the side for now. A mute man woke up that morning possessed by the devil and unable to speak. And he went to bed that night in a completely different world. The mute can sing.

The mute can sing. His life had been completely upended, turned upside down by Jesus Christ. These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that believing you may have life in His name. That's why we've been given this text.

So we'll know that Jesus is Christ and that in believing that Jesus is Christ we may have life. That's why God has given us visibility to these things that he was doing according to John 20 verse 31. The last section beginning in verse 35, Matthew 9.35, Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is truly plentiful, but the laborers are few.

Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Verse 35 is another one of those summary statements that collects up a bunch of activities into a single verse that just summarizes. And it's almost identical to chapter 4, verse 23. There's only a couple words different. It's essentially a restatement of chapter 4, verse 23.

And it just reinforces that this was Jesus's pattern. It's interesting to read some of the commentators. They say, this may indicate that it was a second missionary journey around Galilee. No, that misses the point. I mean, it sort of is that, but it misses the point.

The point is this is Jesus's pattern. He had nowhere to lay his head. When he was alive, he was going about doing good. And so we see it before the Sermon on the Mount. We see it after the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus has a pattern of life. And it includes teaching in the synagogues, city to city, village to village. Galilee, 200 cities and villages, probably 3 million people. And Jesus is everywhere. He's teaching in the synagogues.

He's preaching the kingdom. There's a new kingdom with the coming of the Messiah, and he's preaching the new kingdom. And he's healing. He's healing every disease. He's casting out devils.

Talk about not growing weary of doing good. We have several exhortations in the epistles not to grow weary in doing good. And we just have to look to Jesus for that. Jesus, this is just rapid fire need, pressing on Jesus all the time. It's from one thing to the next to the next to the next to the next.

Jesus, please. Jesus, please. Jesus, please. And we never have any son that is growing weary of doing things. Sometimes he removes the prey, but otherwise, he's just doing good.

As Jesus goes around from city to village and village to city, all through this region. He's observing. He's coming into contact with multitudes, and he's watching. He's looking out on these crowds. And what he sees is weary people, scattered people, like sheep without a shepherd.

And it moves him to compassion. Matthew Henry says this, it was pity to souls that brought him from heaven to earth and there to the cross. It should not surprise us to find Jesus moved with compassion when he looks out on these people. It was pity to souls that brought Jesus here in the first place. Turn in your Bibles to Jeremiah 23.

Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23 is firmly a messianic text. It's a prophecy about things that will happen and be when the Messiah comes. Jeremiah 23, starting in verse 1, reading through verse 6.

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, says the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord God of Israel, against the shepherds who feed my people, you have scattered my flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings, " says the Lord. But I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds, and they shall be fruitful and increase. I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking, says the Lord.

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness. Here we are with the son of David again. A king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely. Now this is His name by which He will be called the Lord our righteousness.

This is why the Pharisees and the other leaders of the day feel so indicted by Jesus. They're watching Jesus faithfully shepherding the people, doing all the things they should do, teaching in the synagogues accurately, rightly. We've seen them deconstruct their teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. Preaching the kingdom, healing, and they watched Jesus do all this faithful shepherding, and they're so condemned when they see it. In John 7 there's a question over the identity of Jesus.

Jesus actually isn't present in the text of John 7, but there's a question about his identity And here's what the leaders of the people say. Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed. Is accursed. Total contempt for the people.

This crowd who doesn't know the law is the people Jesus is going about from town to village to city, doing good among. And yet, there's no such compassion that are had by the leaders of the day. By the leaders and the Pharisees. They view them as the accursed who don't know the law. It's their job to teach them the law.

But they've completely separated themselves from these people that God has compassion on. And he's proving it by faithfully shepherding them. They should have been faithful shepherds. And so when they see faithful shepherding, They have to condemn Jesus because they themselves feel so condemned. They love their standing among the people, but they have no appetite for the work.

It is a curse for the people of God when the shepherds love the standing, but have no appetite for the work. And such was the case here. And that is who God is addressing in Jeremiah 23. It's a terrifying passage for shepherds. In 2 Timothy 3.13, Paul is writing to Timothy about false prophets.

And he says, but evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. They don't even know what's true anymore. They've started even to believe what they say. They've started to believe the things that come out of their own mouths. And so they're deceiving and they're being deceived.

And this is exactly what we see in this text. The Pharisees have all the same facts as the people who are crying out, Son of David, all the same evidence. And yet, because they're evil men, they're growing worse and worse. And this is what we see, by the way. This is the progression of the Gospels, is that the Pharisees are growing worse and worse, more aggressive against the Son of God, and more aggressive.

And they're deceiving and being deceived. But Jesus Christ is a shepherd. He's a shepherd. Not just a man who enjoys the standing, but a real shepherd. The good shepherd.

Full of compassion. And he's restoring shepherding to the people of God. Go look at the book of Acts. Go look at the epistles. And see how much of it is devoted to God putting in place kind shepherding for His people.

The kind of shepherding that we see from him as he goes about the cities and the villages of Galilee, doing good, shepherding. Finally, Jesus addresses his disciples in verses 37 and 38. He says, the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Our response to this vast multitude of people that we see, look out the windows today, look out the windows, they're not far from us.

Our response to this vast multitude that is weary and scattered like sheep without a shepherd should be to think harvest. Harvest! Look out the windows! Harvest! Because Jesus' yoke is easy and His burden is light.

He calls on all who are weary and heavy laden to come to Him. And He will give them rest. He can shepherd these people. And When we think about the harvest, we should pray. Here's what J.C.

Ryle says, and it's so helpful. Personal working for souls is good. Giving money is good. But praying is best of all. By prayer, we reach Him without whom work and money are alike in vain.

Universities can give learning. Congregations may elect. Bishops may ordain, but The Holy Ghost alone can make ministers of the Gospel and raise up lay workmen in the spiritual harvest who need not be ashamed. Never, never may we forget that if we would do good to the world, our first duty is to pray. So here we are, full circle.

Ask, seek, knock. What are we to pray for? What are we asking for? What are we seeking? What door are we knocking at?

That laborers would be sent out by Almighty God so that His glory would be spread from one end of the earth to the other. That the knowledge of God would not be isolated, but it would always be growing, so that he would receive the glory. Harvesting is the work of God. Harvesting is the work of God. But God is pleased to use means.

We say that week after week. It is God. God is sovereign, but God uses means. And for harvesting, His people are His means. Paul says that He planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.

So we're always dependent upon God. But Paul planted. God always sends men out to plant. And Apollos watered. God always sends out men to water.

And only God can give the increase. Romans 10. Paul says this in Romans 10 verses 14 and 15. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?

And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Paul is not talking about the church sending people. Although the church has a role to play, and the church does send people, Paul is talking about Jesus Christ raising God and Jesus Christ raising up people and equipping them and sending them. Here's an observation.

Here's an observation. It is the heart of God to send laborers into the harvest. That is the heart of God. Let's add this to our prayer list. Let's begin praying that the Lord of the harvest would send out laborers into the field from among us.

We must be a sending church. Not as part of our purpose driven life, but because we want for God to do the things that please Him here. We don't want the things that please God to be done elsewhere. We want them to be done here. We want God to be glorified here.

We want God to be honored here. We want God to do all the things that would please Him here. We want to be jealous for those things. And so this would cause us to pray that God would raise up people here among us and that they would be sent out into the harvest. John 20 verses 30 and 31.

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that believing you may have life in His name. The Gospels are for truth. They are for truth.

We need truth. But they're not just for truth. If we stop at intellectual ascent to the things that we're reading, we've stopped short. We fall short of the kingdom of God. And that believing you may have life in His name, this is why we've been given these things.

Not that we would have truths to apply our minds to, but that we would believe them and have life in His name. Friends, what is lacking? What is lacking from these accounts? Is it that they would be foretold? No, they've all been foretold.

Time after time after time after time, the Old Testament speaks of the things that would happen when the Messiah comes. Prophecy is not lacking. Is the teaching lacking? Is it just showy miracles and no substance behind it? No!

The Sermon on the Mount was the most beautiful, perfect, wonderful exposition that you'll ever find. If anything, it's more substance than show. Are the works lacking? Are we finding anything suspect in these accounts about the works of Jesus Christ? Do they not have enough mercy for you?

Are they not spectacular enough? Are they not worthy miracles of the Messiah? Those aren't the things that trip us up. It's not that things are lacking in the Gospel accounts. The prophecy is there.

The teaching is there. The works are magnificent. It is Romans 1 that the unregenerate suppress the truth and unrighteousness. They suppress it in unrighteousness. This is what the Pharisees are doing.

They can see, they know, but they'll suppress the truth and unrighteousness because they're condemned. It's John 3. Men loved darkness rather than light. They loved the darkness rather than light. But for those who God will allow to move beyond that, all the suppressing the truth and unrighteousness, you've done it, I've done it.

All those who've loved darkness and fled from it because they don't want to be exposed. For those who can get past that, there's life. There's life. Jesus calls us to have life. He wants us to have life.

He's offering life. These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that believing you may have life in His name. Oh God, we thank you for the Gospel accounts. We thank you that you've made the purpose of them so clear that we might know with such certainty that Jesus is the one that all those texts in the Old Testament pointed to for all those centuries.

You are the son of David and your throne will be established forever and ever. Oh God, I pray that having these things before our eyes, along with the mighty acting of the Holy Spirit, would cause there to be faith, saving faith where there has not been before. That you would save because of your Word and your Spirit. And I pray that for those of us who trusted many years ago, that as we read these accounts of the mercy and might of Jesus Christ that our faith would be built up. That we would begin to believe again the things that we used to believe when we had just been converted and thought that everything was possible with you.

Oh God, build us up in holy faith we pray. Cause these accounts of your works in the world to have their good effect. We ask in Jesus name, Amen.