Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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Well, let's return now to Romans
and hear God's word there, from Romans
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Chapter Twelve, and please remain standing
with me if you're able, and let's
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turn our attention to Romans chapter twelve. Going to be focusing on one one
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verse this morning, Verse Fourteen.
But let me read to you versus nine
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through fourteen. Here are Paul is
giving instructions to us as Christians, these
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things that mark us out, things
that characterize us and describe our lives and
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how we ought to live. So
let's give our attention. This is the
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word of our god Romans, and
I Romans twelve, verse nine. Let
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love be genuine, abhor what is
evil, hold fast to what is good,
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love one another with brotherly affection,
outdo one another and showing honor.
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Do not be slothful in zeal,
be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord,
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rejoice in hope, be patient in
tribulation, be constant in prayer,
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contribute to the neans of the saints
and seek to show hospitality. Bless those
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who persecute you. Bless and do
not curse them. You may be seated.
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So throughout the Bible God tells us
the Christians are to expect persecution for
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his sake. It's something that we
are to expect. It's it's put in
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a very input in a various way, said in a numerous ways. One
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way we see that here is the
way that persecuting or being persecuted is just
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a part of this list of other
things that we should expect and experience.
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Loving one another, being zealous,
serving the Lord, having hope and rejoicing
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in it, in our tribulations,
being patient in prayer, being constant,
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all of these things that are just
assumed to be a part of the Christian
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life. Same to here. When
you're persecuted, you are to respond by
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blessing the one who persecutes you.
So God tells us to expect persecution.
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Philippians one, not one hundred and
twenty nine, tells us that it's granted
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to us like this is part of
the royal grant that is given to us
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by our King John Fifteen. Mean
when Jesus kneels down to watch the feet
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of his disciples. This remarkable event
tells them it can the servant be better
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than the master? If I'm going
to wash your feet, surely you should
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UN wash the feet of others?
Well, this is a command to love,
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but it extends in other ways.
The servants are to follow after the
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master. If he is to suffer, they are to suffer as well.
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There's a moment when two of the
disciples come to Jesus and they say,
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when you're in your glory, can
we sit on your right and your left
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hand side? And he says you
don't know what you're asking for. Can
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you drink the cup which I will
drink? And they say yeah, yeah,
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we can do it. They're excited, they're positive, they're very encourage
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that they will be able to do
with the Lord whatever the Lord calls them
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to do. Interestingly, Jesus doesn't
say well, actually, you can't.
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He still says you don't know what
you're talking about, but you will.
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This Bitter Cup of Wrath, the
trials, the suffering that he will face
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before he enters into his glory as
something that is disciples will face too,
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not exactly the same way, because
we follow after him and we find our
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source and our strength in him.
Jesus doesn't find his source of strength in
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anything but himself. I'm Jesus is
not following after what anyone. He is
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the one who is. He's leading. But in all these ways we see
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that we as Christians are called to
suffering and, in particular, to persecution.
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Later, after John Fifteen and John
Seventeen, Jesus gives some specific reasons
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for this. He says you're not
of this world, he says in John
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I, says my kingdom is not
of this world and the world will not
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like you, the world will despise
you, the world will fight against you.
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It's a reality of belonging to the
Kingdom of Heaven that we are going
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and being here in this world.
That means we are going to come to
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blows. There is a kind of
fight that is going on, but the
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fight is in different ways than people
often expect. Gee, Peter, when
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the Lord is being taken to be
crucified, takes out a sword and starts
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fighting, and Jesus doesn't say where
the rest of your swords guys, I'm
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coming into my glory. No one
steady tells Peter, put your sword away,
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it's not time for that kind of
thing. He tells Peter in this
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and all these other ways that we
are to expect persecution. It's not just
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something that we endure either. It's
a part of our life's as the king,
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as citizens of the Kingdom of God. So what does that mean?
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What is persecution mean? Well,
persecution, then, and this scriptural sense,
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doesn't just mean people giving you a
hard time. It's not just people
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being mean to you or finding frustrating
situations in your life, and it certainly
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doesn't mean receiving punishment for things you've
done wrong. I'm if you're not being
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persecuted, if you're receiving justice,
if you steal something from the store and
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you spend a little time in shale
from it, that's not being persecuted,
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that's justice. Or somebody going to
your yard and knocking down all the fruit
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off your tree just because they happen
to be there and felt like being mean.
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That's not persecution, it's just someone
being mean to you. Persecution,
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though, is this, this moment
of conflict when the Kingdom of this world
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comes into contact with the Kingdom of
God and despises it and hates it and
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wants nothing to do with it,
when Satan comes into contact with you and
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sees your heavenly citizenship and hate you
and to vises you and attacks you.
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That's persecution. So getting in trouble
for being late to work isn't persecution.
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Or having a bunch of ants in
your sugar bowls isn't persecution, but being
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but suffering for the sake and the
name of Christ. That is persecution and
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it can happen in all kinds of
ways. I've known people who have been
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yelled at for being Christians, lost
jobs for being Christians, been put in
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jail for very for being Christians.
I haven't known anyone in this country who
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suffered that, but in other countries
you can expect all kinds of things,
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all kinds of persecution for having the
name of Christ teasing, maybe, bullying,
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embarrassment, having your reputations slandered,
legal problems, physical danger. And
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if history is instructive, we can
see that this has been the experience of
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our mothers and fathers and brothers and
sisters who have gone before us. Now,
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sometimes you get a job because you're
a Christian. Being a Christian isn't
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always suffering, it isn't always a
persecution, but it varies in time,
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intensity and geography. But we see
that it never goes away, it never
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is entirely gone. In the early
church there were there was never a time
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when when every single person and every
single Christian was being persecuted, but there
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were certainly places and periods where it
was happening enough that you always kind of
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felt it, even if you particularly
weren't suffering at you perhaps knew of someone
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who was, or perhaps your mother
and father suffered in a great way.
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It was sort of always present,
and it's that way in our time as
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well. And so, for all
these reasons, if you are Christian,
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this is something you should not be
surprised at. It's something that you should
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expect. Doesn't mean you need to
ask for it, but it does mean
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you should notice it and, as
Paul points out, here in Romans twelve
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respond to it rightly. How do
we respond to it? How do we
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respond to this aspect of our lives
as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven who
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are pilgrims and resident aliens here in
the world? The Apostle of God speaks
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clearly bless those who persecute you.
Bless and do not curse them. What
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are these two words mean? Bless
and curse? Bless has several different meanings
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in the Bible. Here it means
invoking God's blessing on a particular person.
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Now that may or may not be
expressed in words, it might come out
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in your prayers or your actions,
but it's the operating principle of the heart.
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Means that when this person is persecuting
me, I am instead of going
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instead of cursing them, I'm going
to bless them, I am going to,
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at the very least in my heart, desire that God would pour out
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his blessing on him or her.
That's what it means to bless someone who
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persecutes you. It means to invoke, to pray, to desire God to
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give them good things, to show
them his grace and his goodness. In
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other words, blessing someone who persecutes
you isn't just being nice to them.
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It's not just not being mean or
being nice. It's seeking something much bigger.
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When someone persecutes you for being a
Christian, blessing them means seeking,
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in prayer, in word and indeed, that the Lord would pour out His
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grace and his goodness on that person. It's much stronger than being nice,
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isn't it? And it also shows
us the inward nature of it as well.
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In other words, you can't just
sort of see under the surface,
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hate the person, under the purpose
and then do an outwardly nice thing.
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No, God asks for something much, much more difficult. He wants you
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to take this person who's doing something
unfair and unreasonable and sinful, and treat
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them from the heart, with love
and a desire that God would pour out
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His grace and his goodness on them. Perhaps it'll help to understand blessing by
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looking at its opposite, cursing.
Cursing does the opposite. Cursing seeks,
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in prayer and Word and indeed,
that God's justice and his wrath would be
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put on this person, that God
would abandon this person, that God would
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remove his favor from them, that
he would destroy them pour out his wrath
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on them. So you see,
God isn't saying don't persecute them in return,
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although that would be a bad thing
too. I suppose it wouldn't really
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make sense of our definition either.
If being persecuted is suffering for the sake
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of Christ, this person is not
doing anything for the sake of Christ.
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They're doing something against Christ. He's
not saying don't be mean to that person
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or don't get back at that person. He's not a he's also not saying
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he's not saying don't be cruel or
something like that. What God wants is
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this. Instead of desiring justice for
that person, God wants us to desire,
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pursue and invoke God's grace for that
person. You can put it this
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way. If someone were to do
something to to if someone were to persecute
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and a Christian, that, of
course, is a bad thing. They're
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railing against the Lord and the things
of the Lord. It's a sinful thing
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to persecute a Christian. It's an
unjust, unrighteous, terrible thing to prove
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persecute a Christian. It's to go
against God and the things that he loves.
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So it would, on one hand, seem to make sense that we
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would want justice for that. The
thing that they are doing something that is
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wrong. So wouldn't it make sense
to pursue justice in a situation like that?
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Well, of course it does,
and God does promise that one day
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justice will be had. But right
now, in the in between times between
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Christ's first and second coming, what
does he want for us? What he
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says is specifically this. Don't pursue
justice when you're persecuted. Instead, pursue
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grace. That's what he means by
by saying bless them and do not curse
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them. You can see this especially
in the sermon on the Mount in Matthew
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Chapter Five. If you can,
you can turn there with me. I'm
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going to read a couple passages to
help you see this and hear this from
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the Lord's words there, from the
sermon on the Mount, which could be
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called the sermon on the Kingdom of
God, because that's its topic. So
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first, Matthew Five, verse eleven. These is the last of the several
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beatitudes, as we call them.
Here. God is pronouncing, Jesus is
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pronouncing on his people, this royal
favor. Happy are you, a favor
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upon you, peace to you,
and he goes through these various categories of
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people in his kingdom. The last
one is verse eleven, Matthew Eleven,
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when he said blessed are you when
others revile you and persecute you, another
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utter all kinds of evil against you, falsely on my account, rejoice and
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be glad, for your reward is
Great in heaven, for so they persecuted
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the prophets who were before you.
Just as a side comment, a remarkable
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thing on the hero that shows to
us the unity of the scriptures that Jesus
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says that the prophets were persecuted on
account of Jesus, just as we are
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persecuted on account of Jesus. Wonderful
way in which we see the Old Testament
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scriptures pointing to our Lord and Savior. Now, if you continue on in
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Matthew, Chapter Five, Jesus takes
up this topic again in Verse Forty Three
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and the chapter. And notice what
he says. He is changing in a
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way the ethic of the Kingdom of
God, quoting a very prominent and important
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phrase in an idea in the old
covenant, Jesus Changes It. He turns
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it around. In Verse Forty Three
he says, you have heard that it
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was said you shall love your neighbor
and hate your enemy. Where do they
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hear that in the Bible? This
is what they were supposed to do.
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They were supposed to love their neighbors
and hate their enemies. But I say
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to you, Jesus says, Love
Your enemies and pray for those who persecute
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you, so that you may be
sons of your father who is in heaven,
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for he makes his son to rise
on the evil and on the good
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and sends his reign on the just
and the unjust. For if you love
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those who love you, what reward
do you have? Do not even the
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tax collectors do the same? And
if you greet only your brothers, what
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more are you doing than others?
Do not even the gentiles do the same?
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You therefore must be perfect as your
heavenly father is perfect. In the
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Old Testament, in the old covenant, there were very, for the most
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part, very strict divisions between the
friends and enemy, and friends of the
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Lord and the enemies of the Lord. The Friends of the Lord, the
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loved ones of the Lord, were
tied to this very particular family, Abraham
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and his people. Outside of that
people were enemies. That's why they fought
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against them, that's why they conquered
them, that's why they went against them.
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They went against them. It was
much like the same way God will
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do at the end of time when
judgment comes and he goes out against his
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enemies, vanquishing them, just as
Israel did when they went into Canaan.
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In the society there was a very
strict principle of justice, an eye for
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an eye, a tooth for tooth. You know, we've heard that phrase
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made fun of. You know,
if the whole world see if I get
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it right, if the whole world. Eye for an eye, tooth for
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the tooth. The whole world would
be blindless and blind and toothless. There
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we go, you know, you've
heard the phrase before. The point of
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the phrase, though, isn't go
do this crazy thing and everyone start beating
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each other up. It's a principle
of justice, of fairness, of retribution.
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If somebody takes five dollars from you, it's only right that you get
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five dollars back. Five, four, five. Somebody makes ten dollars from
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you, it's not fair for somebody
to give you five dollars back. That's
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not fair. It's also not fair
if somebody takes five dollars for you and
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you say now give me a million. That's not justice either. Justice is
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fairness. Eye for an eye,
tooth, thir tooth. This is one
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of the ways that the Old Testament
expresses this principle three different places, and
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Exodus, in Leviticus and in Deuteronomy
God expresses this. And this is what
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Jesus is getting at, he says. You've heard it said. This is
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how the kingdom before Jesus came was
carried out, the basic principle being a
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principle of of justice, and he
says there's good in that, of course,
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but it doesn't. But there's something
more that he wants. Tax Collectors
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love each other, he god.
Tax Collectors love each other, gentiles love
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each other. He wants something more. He wants us to love enemies.
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And in order for that Hath to
happen, grace has to extend or be
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extended. In other words, it
can't just be about justice. If the
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Kingdom of God is to expand,
if people are going to be brought in,
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a new principle has to be in
place, a principle of grace.
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And so that's why Jesus speaks in
this very strong way, and that's why
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you and that's why Paul says what
he says in Romans twelve. Don't curse
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your enemy, even though they're an
enemy of the Lord, at least they
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seem to be. Instead, bless
them, because now we are in this
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time when God is extending His grace
out into the world in this new and
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marvelous way. It will not be
easy, it will be very difficult,
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but this is what God wants.
We are going to be persecuted for the
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sake of the king and his kingdom, but when we do so, we
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are to demonstrate that king and that
kingdom by acting in a way that is
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an accord with the cross, by
acting in a way that goes willingly for
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suffering in order to display his grace
to others. So that's what Paul is
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after now. Understanding all this is
one thing and doing it is another.
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John Murray, one of the founders
of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and a professor
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at Westminster Theological Seminary, one,
said that no practical exhortation places greater demands
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on our spirits then to bless them
that persecute us. As I've been thinking
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about this verse and in as I've
been thinking about this verse, meditating on
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it, it strikes me that it's
something that's very easy to affirm in the
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abstract as sort of an idea.
I find it very easy in my own
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heart to say yes, of course
right, that's the ethic of the Kingdom
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of Heaven, but then when it
happens to you, even in a way,
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when it's not happening but you sort
of expect that it will happen,
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it's very, very difficult to put
into place. We are fearful of telling
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people that we are Christians and even
the smallest ways, having a Bible nearby
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that might be seen, that might
be connected, even without us saying anything.
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Why do we fear that? Because
of persecution. We don't want to
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get into conflicts, we don't want
to have trouble, we don't want to
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be ashamed, made fun of,
bully, leader or worse. We fear
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it. We're afraid of it and
when it's happening, it is unfair.
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It is unreasonable. How can the
someone who is law and sinful and and
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an enemy of God, have any
right to go and attack, physically or
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by words or in any other way, the Kingdom of God? It's an
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unreasonable thing, it's a foolish thing, it's a written so it makes sense
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for us to not like it,
to be frustrated by it. And of
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course it's complicated too. If your
neighbor comes over and gives you a hassle
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because you're getting in the car to
go to church, how do you deal
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with that? What if he does
it every Sunday? How do you deal
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with that? What if he also
happens to be your boss? What if
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his daughter also babysit your kids from
time to time? What if your lives
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are integrated and interwoven in all kinds
of ways. This is normal life.
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It gets complicated, it's challenging.
It's hard to know what to do when
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we're persecuted. It's hard to know
how to bless people. Well, we
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hear these kinds of exhortations, these
very hard ones. I find that,
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at least I do. When I
hear a heart exhortation like this, bless
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them that persecute you, I find
that my mind always jumps to these sort
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of nearly impossible ethical scenarios to know
how to figure out our answer. Well,
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how can that be true if this
crazy thing were to happen or this
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crazy thing were to happen? It's
true that we face a difficult challenges.
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It's hard for us to know how
to act, but it doesn't mean that
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the rules needs to be put away. And, as I said earlier,
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it's not only difficult for these reasons, but it's also difficult to follow.
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Because Jesus doesn't want restraint, or
merely restraint interactions, but he wants purity
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in our hearts. He doesn't just
want us to hold our tongues, but
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he wants us to be filled with
love. For this person who's hurting us,
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making us feel bad, taking our
time, taking our money. Jesus,
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in speaking in the sermon on the
mountain another place, he says when
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somebody, when somebody slaps you on
one side of the cheek, turn the
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other. I've never been slapped.
I hope I'm never slapped, but I
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would imagine it would be very difficult
to do that, to simply turn and
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somebody says, give me your cloak
and you give them another one. Go
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a mile and go another. Jesus
says things in this strong way, not
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so that we can be black and
white about every ethical challenge that comes to
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us, but so that we can
have this very firm and straight course of
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action. We are to give ourselves
freely willingly as an act of blessing and
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grace to other people when they are
hurting us, for the sake of Jesus.
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It's very difficult, and so I
want to conclude by building up your
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spiritual strength for this task. I
want to bring to your mind a few
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things, for things from God's word
to help you know and be strong for
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a this difficult task. The first
thing you need to remember is that it's
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this very ethic of grace that saved
you. Is that not true? You
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and I were enemies of God,
persecutors of the Lord, when he displayed
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this grace to us. It wasn't
fair that we were doing it, wasn't
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right that we were doing it.
It was unreasonable and heinous and wicked.
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And yet, despite all of that, our Lord and Savior went to the
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Cross and died. He didn't just
invoke God's blessing, he astablished and affirmed
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and gave to us God's blessing through
this work, by his actions. It's
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by this kind of grace that we
are saved. Jesus didn't seek justice when
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he went to the cross, and
that might help us with another idea that
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sometimes people bring up. Sometimes people
say, well, how can I do
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this thing? God certainly doesn't want
me to be a doormat, so certainly
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they're supposed to be dignity in the
human life and we shouldn't just be railroaded.
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That's true. God doesn't want you
to be a doormat, but Jesus
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wasn't a doormat when he went to
the cross. Jesus and wasn't spineless or
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weak. He wasn't simply of doing
the easy thing. Jesus went with strength
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and power and authority to the Cross, as we considered over the last few
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Sundays, when Jesus went to the
cross, he wasn't doing so because of
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an accident, because he didn't know
what else to do. Jesus when so
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because he was going to inaugurate the
Kingdom of God. And when we endure
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persecution, and even greater than that, when we bless those who persecute us,
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we are acting within and as emissaries
of that kingdom. We are acting
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with strength and authority, with a
spine, when we endure our own crucifixions
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or sit in jail or teasing or
embarrassment or the loss of money or health
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or any number of other things.
Now the world will look at us and
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say, well, if you are
so powerful, if the kingdom is of
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God is so wonderful, why don't
you show that, just as they said
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to Jesus, who is on the
cross, if your king, why don't
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you call your angels to help you, to lift you up and to solve
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this problem? Jesus wasn't spineless,
he was full of valor and courage.
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He was the great and divine warrior, King coming to save the world.
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He was strong, and we are
too, and be attitudes. Jesus says,
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blessed are the meek. We don't
use that word very much anymore.
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We often think of it as being
a doormat, but it doesn't mean that.
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It means being gentle, means being
lowly in spirit. It means giving
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yourself humbly to others just and that's
what Jesus calls us to do here,
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and that, my point, is, is what Jesus did for you.
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That's how he saved you. Well, it's not only this very action that
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saved you, but, you know
what, it's still saving you again,
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to quote John Murray, he says
only the resources of the Omnipotent Grace,
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of Omnipotent Grace in Christ Jesus,
are equal to the demands of the believers
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vocation. Let me read it again. Only the resources of Omnipotent Grace in
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Christ Jesus are equal to the demands
of the believers vocation. The believers vocation,
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the believers calling, the believers charge
the way of life that we are
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supposed to live out. Do you
remember how Jesus put it? Be Perfect
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as your heavenly father is perfect.
That's a high calling, my friends,
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perfection. How are we going to
be perfect? How are we going to
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find perfection? How are we going
to bless those who persecute us? How
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are we going to bless them and
not curse them? Only the resources of
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Omnipotent Grace in Christ, Jesus are
equal to the demands of the believers vocation.
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There's only one way that you can
fulfill that and that is in and
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through the strength of Jesus Christ.
You can't go into the world and purse
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and bless those who are persecuted persecuting
you in your own strength. It's impossible.
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You won't be able to do it. And so to encourage you and
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remind you you don't have to lean
on your own strength. Jesus doesn't say
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suffer from my name strength. Don't
suffer for my name's sake by your own
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strength. He says suffer for me
and I will take care of you.
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Remember what he says, for example, to the disciples. He says they'll
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going to drag you before courts and
UNCILS, but don't worry, my spirit
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will tell you what to say.
He says they'll put you to death,
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but don't worry. My spirit will
bring you to life. They will tease
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you and make fun of you,
but don't worry, your reputation is eternally
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strong in me. Your righteousness is
my righteousness. Remember that it is by
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Jesus that you are saved, and
it is by Jesus that you are still
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being saved. You can do this
thing that he calls you to do because
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he's in you and working in you. He has called you to be an
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emissary and ambassador. He has granted
you this royal calling. He is not
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going to just leave you hanging.
He is not going to leave you,
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but he will sustain you. Finally, remember that two more things. Remember
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that this is part of the Royal
Grant that you've been given. Persecution is
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not something that is just happens to
us. In other words, it's something
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that is integral to us being a
part of his kingdom. But that's hard,
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but it's also glorious. When a
warrior puts on his armor, takes
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his weapons and runs out onto the
battle field, that's hard. He might
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die, but when he's doing it
as a soldier in the armies of God,
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well, that's wonderful. It's impressive. It's courageous, it's full of
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Valor and strength in glory, and
that is what we do when we take
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up the Cross of Christ and follow
after him. It is glorious, it's
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full of courage and Valor and goodness. We shine with the light of Heaven
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and people see that. People come
to faith because of that. This is
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the testimony of history. Time and
time again, when the Lord's people have
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been persecuted, what happens? People
come to faith, they see the courage
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of people going to their deaths for
the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ,
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and they can hardly believe it until
they know the work of God in their
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own souls, and then they do
the same. That, my friends,
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is a glorious thing. You should
have that in your hearts. When you
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are being persecuted, don't be discouraged. You're doing the things of God for
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God, in the name of God. And finally, persecution is a temporary
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thing. The battles that we face, the trials that we suffer, they
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don't last forever. God tells us
that. It is a part of the
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purification that's happening. It's a part
of the Gospel as it goes out it's
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a part of the goodness of His
grace that is being demonstrated in the world.
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It's an honor to suffer right now. It's an honor for us to
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be named after Jesus and to follow
in his way, but there's a great
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reward that's coming. We received the
Crowns of heaven and face suffering and persecution
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no more. We'll have to endure
it and fight and suffer and strive for
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a time, but there's coming a
day when there will be no more striving,
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no more fighting, no more suffering, and at that time is soon.
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For that reason, I have to
tell you, if you are a
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persecutor of God's church, is people, if you are a mocker, if
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you are a reviler, then hear
how the Lord is instructing you, or
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rather hear how the Lord is instructing
those whom you desire to harm as you
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persecute the Lord and his church.
What is he telling them to do to
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respond to you? He's telling them
to show you his grace. Are you
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going to ignore that, when you
see this kind of love and goodness and
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tenderness poured out on you, when
you know that the Lord is withholding justice
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that will most certainly come when he
comes to judge the world, but is
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withholding it now, restraining it now
and giving you opportunities for repentance and mercy,
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will you really continue to persecute the
church, to hate the church,
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to strive against the church, the
Lord and his anointed? When Jesus called
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Saul, who was later called the
Apostle Paul, to account, he said,
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why are you persecuting me? It
wasn't just people or Christians that Paul
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was hurting. He was attacking the
Lord and Creator of the universe themselves himself.
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He was attacking the very one who
was extending to him the possibility for
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forgiveness, a righteousness that was perfect
and rests forever from his sins. By
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the grace of God, Paul was
brought to faith and to an understanding who
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Jesus was. If you are a
persecutor, a Mocker, a reviler of
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God and the things and the people
of God, then I pray that he
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will do this for you as well. The time is now to repent and
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to believe. And if you are
persecuted, if you find yourself on the
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other side of that equation, know
that you are being persecuted because you know
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the grace and goodness of God.
Remember that this persecution that you face is
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not in vain. It is from
the Lord ultimately, and appointed for you
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so that you might share in the
honors and the glories of his name and
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his kingdom. The one day be
consummated, the will one day be complete.
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The trials, brothers and sisters,
that we face, they are temporary,
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but God is not. So let
your trust always be in him.
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Let's pray
