Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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And let us now ask God's blessing
and illumination upon his word. And now,
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our God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, we do come
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to thee this morning. We are
but one one congregation among thousands upon thousands
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that are gathering on this day to
give you praise. But Lord, you
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are present everywhere, and you are
especially present in the gathering together of your
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people. And you are present there
to bless, and you are present there
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to guide and to lead. And
Lord, you are present to illuminate your
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word. And Father, your word
is truly a light to our path,
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that a lamp to our feet.
Your word truly is all that we need
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for life and godliness. And so
Lord, we come to you this morning
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to your word. And though we
look at one small portion enough, yet
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there is an eternity and an infinity
of things that are brought forth in this
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short little passage that you taught us. And so Lord, I pray that
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as we read it and as I
expound it, Lord you would illuminate the
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word, keep me from error,
help me to faithfully expound the word.
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And Lord me your people be drawn
closer to you and closer to each other.
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If we pray this in Christ name. Amen, we're looking at the
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Gospel of Luke. I told you
I wasn't going to get through the entire
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gospel, but we got all the
way to chapter six, so we did
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well. And I'm going to be
looking, um, actually at a much
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longer Well, it's not a long
passage, but it's I would I would
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probably normally do this in less or
more sermons, and I'm doing it this
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morning. But Luke chapter six,
getting with verse twenty seven and going through
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verse thirty six, here is God's
word. But I say to you who
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hear, love your enemies, do
good to those who hate you, Bless
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those who curse you, Pray for
those who abuse you. To one who
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strikes you on the cheek, offer
the other also. And from one who
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takes away your cloak, do not
withhold your tunic. Either, give to
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everyone who begged from you. And
from one who takes away your goods,
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do not demand them back. And
as you wish that others would do to
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you, do so even to them. If you love those who love you,
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what benefit is that to you?
For even sinners love those who love
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them. And if you do good
to those who do good to you,
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what benefit is that to you,
for even sinners to the same. And
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if you lend to those from whom
you expect to receive, what credit is
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that to you? Even sinners lend
the sinners to get back the same amount.
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But love your enemies and do good
and land expecting nothing in return,
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and your reward will be great.
And you will be sons of the most
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High for his kind, for his
kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
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Be merciful, even as your father
is merciful. That's what And the reading
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of God's word please be seated.
I was. I was asked by the
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all children if I could come up
with a clever, funny title. I
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made reference in a previous sermon that
I had done that one time and nobody
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got it. So I decided it
wasn't a good thing for me to do.
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UM But I failed. I totally
failed at that. I couldn't come
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up with a clever title for this. The only thing I could think about
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this morning was that we are we
are missing half of our leadership today and
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I think um, Bill and Ted
are off on some excellent adventure today.
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That's my attempt. Well, we
are moving forward to UH in the Gospel
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of Luke. And we've looked at
the beatitudes and and things like this,
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And like I say, as we
read the Texas morning, I could easily
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preach uh two or three messages at
minimum are these passages. And I had
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to cut out lots of material in
order to make this a sermon I could
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do in one morning. We do
not have Sunday school following this morning and
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and other things, so of course
I can go much much longer today.
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So I have a little bit of
a benefit. Uh, don't get nervous.
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But anyway, we have a lot
of stuff here that Christ tells us
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about love, and UH, love
is I'm gonna talk about, is the
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foundation of everything and in the Kingdom
of God, and so of course there's
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so much to be said about that. And Christ is going to talk about
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love peculiarly to the our enemies.
But nevertheless, I want us to remember
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that if Christ uh commands us to
love our enemies, how much more ought
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we to love our brothers and sisters
in Christ as well? And so I
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want to include that idea, And
so we'll be looking not only at our
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love to enemies, but our love
to brothers and sisters and also our love
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to God and God's love to us
as well, and by looking at how
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that is demonstrated in the Gospel.
So let's begin by looking at Versus twenty
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seven to thirty. Let me lay
down some fundamental principles about love. That
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this is the very first time that
Luke uses the word love in his gospel.
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This is the first time we have
it. You're probably familiar many of
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you are, anyway, probably with
the fact that there are different words for
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love in the Greek and the first
word that is they have is the word
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ara us, which is a word
for more physical, passionate love and actually
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is not found anywhere in the Bible
and the New Testament, at least that
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is translated into from Greek. The
second word filia is usually referred to as
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a friendship love and uh that is
another kind of love. The third word
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that most of us are probably familiar
with is the Greek word agape, and
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this is probably the most difficult word
for us to define. One thing that
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seems apparent is is one of those
words. There are a few words that
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Christian writers took a word out of
the Greek and kind of put their own
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spin upon it, and the copy
is one of those words. Act lyca
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might be another one. There are
others as well. But this is a
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word where the Church kind of made
it, or Christ or however you want
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to say, this made it into
a whole different kind of meaning uh than
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than it was in those days.
It has been described as a sacrificial kind
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of love, the kind of love
the Godhead and giving his only begotten son
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into the world, the kind of
love the Christ showed and coming into the
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world world and giving himself as a
sacrifice, that kind of love the Holy
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Spirit shows in giving uh an applying
the work of Christ to the hearts of
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believers. And and so this is
one of those words. Romans third Team
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ten says love does no wrong to
a neighbor. Therefore, love is the
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fulfilling of the law. And there
the word in both of its occurrences in
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that verse is the Greek word a
gop a. And so Paul says,
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the way we fulfill the law of
God, just like Jesus says and said
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in our Law passage this morning,
is by showing love to one another and
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love to God. John MacArthur says, the most foundational mark of a genuine
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believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is
love. We love God, we love
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other believers in Christ, and we
are even commanded here to love our enemies.
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And in this passage Jesus is giving
especially to j he Ism, but
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to the world itself. He is
giving some of the most revolutionary teachings.
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And we need to understand this.
These words are so familiar to us,
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they just kind of kind of just
go off of us without thinking too much
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about him. But in those days, these words that Jesus taught, they
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were not being taught. These are
revolutionary things what Jesus is going to say,
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and it starts with the command love
your enemies. The teachers of that
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time we're not teaching this at all. Hendrickson says, when he said love
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your enemies, he must have startled
his audience, for he was saying something
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that probably never before had been said
so succinctly, positively, and forcefully.
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The old saying that has been repeated
many times, originally attributed to Sons,
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who is keep your friends close and
keep your enemies closer. I don't think
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by close in his saying, he's
referring to the closeness of love. But
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the or Jesus is referring to the
closeness of love and speaking of that kind
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of love to our enemies. Now, after this command, Jesus is going
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to give a series of instructions on
how to do that. Anybody have a
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guess as to how many instructions?
So seven good, Yes, So they
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did learn one thing right when I
was here, So that's that's good.
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Yes, seven instructions concerning how we
are to do that. And again,
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and the two great commandments that we
looked at this morning. The second one
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is thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself, but it doesn't say thou shalt
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love thy enemy as thyself. But
then Jesus gave us a parable later on
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in Luke concerning a Samaritan. And
he gives it in response to a question
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that was asked of him, who
is my neighbor? If we should love
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our neighbor as myself? Who is
our neighbor? And Jesus gave a parable
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that seemed to indicate at anyone that
is in need is our neighbor. And
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so we say, can our enemy
be our neighbor? Or can our neighbor
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be our enemy? And at least
I think we can admit the second is
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possible. So if anyone can be
my neighbor, then I must be willing
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to show love to anyone at all. And I want to come back to
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that parable and an illustration of it
at the end of the message this morning.
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So the first command that he gives
is do good to those who hate
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you. Last week we looked at
the be attitudes when Jesus said, we
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are blessed when people hate us and
speak evil of us. And I spoke
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about the fact that there can be
various reasons that people hate us that are
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not actually blessings, that there are
own faults, that our own problems,
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and that that cannot be the case
for what Jesus was speaking about here.
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But no matter why people hate us, Jesus commands us to do good to
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them, which, at some point
out here is a command to actually do
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unnatural deeds. It isn't natural for
us to do good things to our enemies.
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We don't. We don't. We
might do that naturally as believers to
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to other Christians, but it isn't
natural to do it to those who hate
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us. James Edwards says, the
commandments here are non intuitive. In other
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words, they may not seem reasonable, and they enjoy behaviors that did not
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come naturally. John MacArthur says,
when believers face hatred, there to respond
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by seeking the welfare of those that
hate them, thereby reinforcing their supernatural message
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with supernatural love. Well, that's
difficult to do in I moved to Sacramento,
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California with my wife and small daughter
at the time. We only had
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one child at the time, and
we were going to start a streat ministry
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and Sacramento, and uh, the
the problem was I didn't have a lot
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of money. So we got our
apartment building and not the ideal place or
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the ideal area of Sacramento to live
in, and we lived above a family
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that basically kept hours completely opposite to
our hours. So when we were awake,
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they were asleep, and when we
were asleep, they were awake.
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And that pointed out or caused many
different problems, uh for us, especially
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with one small child that might have
had some difficulty in sleeping and and all
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of that. And they could be
quite noisy during the night. And um,
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I happened to notice one morning that
the kids there was actually some teenagers
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living with what I think was the
grandmother. I guess. I don't know
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that for sure, but but I
would see the kids coming home with car
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stereos under their arms with the wires
kind of ripped off and hanging from them,
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and I had an idea what they
might have been doing, uh in
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the night during that time. And
when I had left North Dakota, which
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is where it passed her before we
came to California, I, um,
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they're a family in the church had
given to me this cassette player. Now,
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for those of you that are younger, cassette was like our CDs.
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Uh they were. They were like
tape things that ran and got caught up
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in your tape player and messed all
up, and then you had to spend
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hours trying to straighten it out and
put it back in the cassette. Um.
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So it was a little a little
less um usable than the c d
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M. But anyway, um,
it was the best they had at that
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time. And the Salmon had given
us a premier Jensen recorder that played these
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cassettes like they sounded so much better
than anywhere else we we could play them.
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And one morning, um, I
got into my car and noticed that
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the player was gone, and I
had a pretty good idea who had taken
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that at that time, and remembering
the scripture, I told my wife,
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you know, why don't you bake
a tray of brownies and uh, I'll
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take it down to them and give
it to them. And so she did,
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and I took him down, knocked
on the door, and the grandmother,
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if that's what was answered, the
answered the door and I said,
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I just want to say, my
wife has baked you some brownies and we
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wanted to give again to you as
a neighborly gesture. And she grabbed the
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brownies and she looked over a friend
that was with me in the street ministry
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at that time, at a car
that was parked and it was a little
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bit on the lawn and she was
that cars on the lawn and then she
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closed the door. So it didn't
end very good. I can't say that
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it made that we made a huge
impact on their life or anything like that.
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Um. We never did make a
close relationship of that family because we
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moved out of that neighborhood as soon
as we could. UM. But loving
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enemies can be a hard thing to
do. And if we find that we
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think it's easy, the problem is
we probably don't have real enemies. Enemies
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are those who hate us because of
Christ and the life that we live.
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And that's, like I said,
what the real reason people should Hey,
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if they're gonna hate us, that's
why they should hate us, not for
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other reason. And I want to
refer to a book that Philip Rikin refers
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to in his commentary, but it
also has made into a movie. I
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haven't read the book. I have
seen the movie years ago and it's it's
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a good movie. It's a war
movie and it's called To End All Wars.
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And maybe some of you have seen
that uh particular movie. It's based
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on the memoirs of a pow by
the name of Ernest Gordon, and he
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spent time in the Dreaded prison camp, Japanese prison camp by the River Kwai.
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Now I know that isn't the only
war movie that deals with the River
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Kuai, but nonetheless, uh in
um. In Rkin's book, Uh,
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he talks about the book by Gordon
and he said that during the time they
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were in this was a dreaded camp. Very few people made it out alive.
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And he said, during that time
Gordon writes about it. He said
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he nearly died. He writes this, I was headed for the death house.
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I was so ill I didn't much
care, but I was hardly prepared
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for what I found there. The
death house had been built at one of
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the lowest points of the camp.
The monsoon you're familiar with that was on,
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and as a result, the floor
of the hut was a sea of
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mud, and there were the smells
tropical ulcers eating in the flesh and bone.
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Latrines overflowed, unwashed man, untended
men, sick men, Humanity gone
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sour, humanity rotting. The last
shreds of my numb sensibilities rebelled against my
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surroundings, against the bedbugs, the
life, the stenches, the blood,
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mucus, excrement stained sleeping platforms,
the die and the dead bed mates,
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the victory of corruption. This was
the lowest level of life. But by
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God's grace, Gordon didn't die.
But he and many others in the camp
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lived and came to know Jesus Christ. But Wryking goes on to say that
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even though these men learned to love
each other, the one thing they couldn't
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find out how to do was how
to love their enemies. Gordon says this
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is from his words We have learned
from the gospels that Jesus had his enemies
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just as we had ours, but
there was a difference. He loved his
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enemies. He prayed for them,
even as the nails were being hammered through
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his hands and feet. He cried
out, Father, forgive them, for
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they know not what they do.
We hated our enemies. We could see
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how wonderful it was that Jesus forgave
in this way. Yet for us to
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do the same seemed beyond our attainment. The enemies had been brutal, they
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had made them suffer the most inhumane
treatment. They had real enemies, and
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it seemed insurmountable for them to overcome
that. And maybe we don't have enemies
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quite like that. But I want
to come back to that story at the
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end of the message. The second
way to love our enemies is to bless
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the ones who curse us. In
his first command of how we treat our
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enemies, Jesus speaks of unnatural deeds, of doing good to those that hate
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us and those that are enemies.
Now he speaks about unnatural words, and
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he speaks about blessing those who curse
us. And normally I expound a lot
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more on this, but I don't
have time. The third way to love
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our enemies is to pray for those
who mistreat us, and again you can
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fill in the exposition for that this
morning. The fourth way is the famous
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turn the other cheek commands. Jesus
said, if someone strikes you on the
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cheek, and then offer the other
one as well. I think that that
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particular saying has come down to us
so often and is so well known that
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translators don't like the mess with it. But it's important to notice that the
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word here for cheek is actually the
word jawbone, and the word for strike
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actually means to smite hard, to
hit hard. So what we're talking about
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here is a smack to the jaw. We're not talking about a little hit
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to the cheek. We're talking about
a smack to the jaw. Last week,
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we saw in our evening message that
Samson used a jawbone to kill his
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enemies. But here we are learning
that we should turn our other jaw bone
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to the enemy. And I want
to treat this command that Jesus gives us
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the same way I'm going to treat
the next three commands. So again I
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want to come back to those in
the exposition, because I think it's important
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before we understand that that we we
realize something that's that's to be said here.
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The fifth way is if someone takes
our cloak, we shouldn't withhold our
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tunic from them either. The sixth
ways were to give to everyone who begs
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from us, and the seventh is
if someone takes our goods from us,
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we shouldn't ask for them back.
Lensky says, the disciple loses less by
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letting his things be taken wrongfully.
Then he would buy with the selfish heart,
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clamoring to have them returned. The
disciple loses less by having the things
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taken wrongfully. Well, I want
to spend most of my time and application,
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as I've kind of referred to this
morning, So let me just quickly
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go through Versus thirty one to thirty
four. Here we have the famous golden
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rule in verse dirty one, and
we have to admit that there are other
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versions of the same kind of thing
that are found in other teachers, teachers
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both before and after Christ, even
Jewish teachers uh that taught here the taught
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this. But we have to notice
one thing that is of ent us,
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and and I think it does mean
something is that all of those teachers taught
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this in the negative. Christ was
the first one who put it into the
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positive. For example, Socrates said, do not do to others that which
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angers you when they do it to
you. Confucius says, and this is
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not a joke, now, but
Confucius says, never imposed on others which
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you would not choose for yourself.
And there are other versions as well that
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you can find. But Jesus actually
puts it in the positive. He said,
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we are to Actually he's not saying
don't do this, he's saying do
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this. He's saying, do the
things that you would want to be done
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to you, you do them to
them. And and so Luke says,
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as you wish that others would do
to you, do so to them.
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Matthew says, so whatever you wish
that others would do to you, do
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also to them, for this is
the law and the profits. And so
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in his sense, Jesus is summing
up the entire teaching of this section by
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giving us this particular rule. And
and one of the problems that people have,
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I think as a rule in this
teaching and this teaching of love,
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is sometimes we divorce the second commandment
from the first, and we think about
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our love to our neighbor and all
of that, and that's fine, and
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that's good. But but many people, including some liberal Christians and Heathens,
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have divorced it so that when they
speak about love, they only speak about
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the second commandment. They only speak
about love towards other people, and that's
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all they speak about. And we
see many of these kind of trite sayings
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and things at different places that we
go into in souvenir shops and the like,
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where where they're all these sayings.
And we we have a cup that
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our Landlord has left for us in
our condominion that we've been staying in that
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says uh. And everything you do, do it in love. And it's
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all great, but it's it's not
referring to the first commandment, which is
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to love God. And it's easy
for people to forget that that is the
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utmost and most important commandment of all. And then in Versus thirty two through
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thirty four, Jesus characterizes what should
separate Christians from unbelievers, or as Christ
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refers to them, sinners. Now, that word is used in various contexts
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in the Gospels, and sometimes it's
used about people that are exceeding sinners,
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people that have done some horrendous things. Uh. It's used for example,
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of a woman as the prostitute in
the Gospels as well. But Jesus is
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basically referring to all unbelievers and says
that even though, but even if we
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want to take it to the most
extreme case, that we want to think
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about extreme sinners, extreme sinners,
they do show love to other extreme sinners.
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They do do good to those that
are other sinners. And and again
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Jesus said, what benefit if you
do that? If you show love to
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those that show love to you,
what benefit? And the word there for
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benefit is caress, and that is
the Greek word that is most overwhelmingly translated
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in the New Testament as grace.
What grace is that to you? You
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know we talk about people, Oh
she has such grace. Well, Jesus
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is saying, what grace is this
to you? None? In Verses thirty
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five and thirty six, Jesus basically
sums up uh and all that he's been
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saying, and he begins with the
statement he made at the beginning, love
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your enemies, and then he mentions
a couple of things he said, do
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good and lend, expecting nothing in
return, And he says, a couple
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of things then that are the result. He says, our reward will be
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great, and the reward we can
say will certainly be a reward of grace.
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Hendrickson says, the reward is in
proportion to yet always far greater than
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the sacrifice God is in no man's
debt. And then he says, we
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will be sons of the most High. And he closes it by saying,
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be merciful, even as your father
is merciful. But like I said,
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I want to spend most of the
time this morning an application as we look
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at all of these commands that Jesus
gives us. And this is I think
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important because I think I could have
ended here and I would not be given
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to you. What is the right
thing to say out of this passage?
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Now? We are people who believe
that the word of God should be taken
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literally. We believe that the miracles
that Jesus did were literal miracles. We
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believe he did literally feed five thousand
people with five small loaves and two small
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fishes. We do believe that he
did walk on the water. We do
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believe that Lazarus did raise from the
dead after he had been dead for four
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days. But we also believe that
not all scriptures are to be taken literally,
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and one way we determine that is
by comparing scriptures with other scriptures.
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So when John and Revelation speaks of
the seven spirits of God, we don't
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take that to mean that there are
literally seven holy spirits. We believe indeed,
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by going back to Ephesians and comparing
scriptures that Paul said there is one
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spirit. So we believe that that
is a symbolic interpretation. It refers to
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perhaps the seven attributes of the spirit
that Isaiah gets gives us in chapter eleven.
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So we compare scripture with scripture.
So when Jesus says, when one
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strikes you on the jawbone and offer
the other one also, are we to
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take that has has been binding on
us and absolutely literal? And if so,
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why did the people in the Bible
not do that? In next two
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we read this and the high Priest
and and i as commanded those who stood
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by Paul to strike him on the
mouth. Well, this is the great
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apostle Paul, right, so we
know what he's gonna do. He's gonna
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turn the other cheek right and say
hit me on this side. Also,
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well, here's what the next verse
says. Then Paul said to him,
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God is gonna strike you, you
whitewashed wall. Are you sitting to judge
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me according to the law, and
yet contrary to the law you order me
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to be struck? Wow? That
doesn't sound like sermon on the mount stuff,
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doesn't. Um. It's a little
a little confusing perhaps, But let
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me give you a better example,
better than Paul. Yep John. When
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he had said these things, one
of the officers standing by struck Jesus with
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the hand, saying, is that
how you answer the High priest? So
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does Jesus is turned the other cheek
verse twenty three. Jesus answered him,
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if what I said is wrong,
bear witness about the wrong. But if
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what I said is right, why
do you strike me? He doesn't literally
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turn the other cheek. And when
Jesus commands us here that we are to
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give to everyone who begs of you, does that mean as I'm driving my
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way down Craycroft that every street corner
I gotta stop because someone's asking money of
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me, and I have to reach
in my wallet and pull out a twenty
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and then go to the next block
and there's another person asking of me.
359
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So I got to reach in my
pocket and pull out another twenty and do
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that. If I did that,
I would be broke. Is that with
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Jesus literally? Is he literally telling
us that everyone who begs of us we
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must give to them. I would
submit to you. It's not possible.
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We can't do it. So let
me give you this application. If we
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take everything that Jesus says in his
passage has absolutely literal, we could never
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ever follow it. We couldn't do
it. We can't give to everyone that
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asked. If someone shoots us in
the back, we don't turn around and
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say, hey, get me in
the stomach too. We just can't do
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that. Someone robs our house,
we don't run out with our car keys
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and go, hey, I forgot
my car. We don't do that.
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And if a woman comes to me
as a pastor and says her husband is
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physically abusing her again and again and
again, I can't just say, oh,
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well take it. You know,
that's the way it is turned the
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other cheek. No, we can't
do that. We have to understand that
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what Jesus is teaching here cannot be
in contradiction to the law of God because
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Jesus gave that law, so she's
not going to contradict that law as well.
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For example, ex says, if
ever you take your neighbor's cloak and
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pledge you shall return it to him
before the sun goes down. In six
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thirty, Jesus says, from the
one who takes away your goods, do
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not demand them back. But let's
take that in context with Exodus seven.
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If a man gives to his neighbor
money or goods to keep safe, and
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it's stolen from the man's house,
if the thief is found, he shall
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pay double. That seems to be
the exact opposite of what is being said
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here. But what I want to
say is the seeming impossibility of us doing
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this should not keep us from challenging
ourselves in the way we live and the
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way we give. We can't say, well, I can't shift everybody that
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asked me, so I just won't
give anything an illustration in my own life
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that I just used for illustration.
It is not to put any greatness on
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me. Please understand it. It
wasn't that great a deal. But there's
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a time in my life when not
too long ago, actually, when somebody
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came to an individual I had been
working with in jail ministry and they were
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getting out and trying to make a
new start in life, and and they
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had found an apartment, but they
couldn't afford the security deposit, and they
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asked if I could help them.
So I went to my wife and I
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said, you know, so and
so has asked for for money for a
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security deposit. I said, you
know, he says he's going to pay
396
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it back, but in all likelihood, we need to know we're never going
397
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to see this money again. And
so would you be an agreement that we
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would still give it to him and
try to help him to get a good
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start, And and my wife agreed
that we should do it. So we
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gave him the money for the security
deposit. Within about one or two weeks,
401
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he had made a stupid move of
taking a trip up to Michigan where
402
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his car had gotten impounded, and
he was put back in jail and we
403
00:31:59.720 --> 00:32:04.960
lost the security he lost the security
deposit, and uh, we lost what
404
00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:08.799
we had put into it. So
was that wise, You'd say, no,
405
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I don't think that was very wise
pastor not at all? And perhaps
406
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it wasn't. But on the other
hand, we have continued to remain in
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contact with this individual, and um
he has continued to tell me, even
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though it's been about five years that
that he is still planning on paying us
409
00:32:29.640 --> 00:32:35.000
back and to do that. And
so sometimes we're just challenged to do things
410
00:32:35.039 --> 00:32:38.039
that maybe aren't wise, maybe aren't
smart, maybe don't work out so great,
411
00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:43.960
but sometimes we need to be challenged. I certainly haven't given to every
412
00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:46.559
individual who has come to me with
the need, and I'm sure you haven't
413
00:32:46.599 --> 00:32:52.559
either, but probably in your life
you have done something like I just mentioned
414
00:32:52.559 --> 00:32:55.920
that I have done. That was
giving something out of the ordinary to try
415
00:32:55.920 --> 00:32:59.960
to help somebody, and maybe it
didn't work out so well for you either.
416
00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:05.240
Her. So we walk this line
of tension, knowing we can't meet
417
00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:08.000
every need, but being willing to
be challenged in our giving as well.
418
00:33:09.079 --> 00:33:14.720
We keep in mind what the apostle
John said in First John four twenty one.
419
00:33:14.880 --> 00:33:19.920
If anyone says I love God and
hates his brother, he's a liar.
420
00:33:20.599 --> 00:33:22.319
For he who does not love his
brother whom he has seen, cannot
421
00:33:22.359 --> 00:33:27.200
love God whom he has not seen. In this commandment we have from him
422
00:33:27.240 --> 00:33:31.039
whoever loves God must love his brother
earlier, he said in chapter three.
423
00:33:31.079 --> 00:33:35.079
By this we know love that he
laid down his love for us, and
424
00:33:35.119 --> 00:33:37.039
we ought to lay down our lives
for our brothers. But if anyone has
425
00:33:37.079 --> 00:33:42.440
the world's good and sees his brother
in need, yet closes his heart against
426
00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:47.079
him, how does God's love abide
in him? Little children? John's favorite
427
00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:52.960
term for believers, let us not
love in word or talk, but indeed
428
00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:57.759
in truth. But let us go
back to verse thirty five, which I
429
00:33:57.799 --> 00:34:02.400
think helps us properly interpret what Jesus
is saying. He says, if we
430
00:34:02.559 --> 00:34:09.840
do these things that he's commanding,
we're actually imitating God, who is kind
431
00:34:09.880 --> 00:34:15.440
to the ungrateful and the evil.
And I think we have to admit that
432
00:34:15.599 --> 00:34:21.679
is true. Matthew says a little
bit more on this and speaks about God
433
00:34:21.800 --> 00:34:27.480
sending rain on both the just and
the unjust. All of creation, not
434
00:34:27.559 --> 00:34:31.559
just believers, enjoy God's creation.
You know, I mentioned it before,
435
00:34:31.599 --> 00:34:37.920
What beautiful creation things you have here
in this area, How many beautiful things
436
00:34:37.960 --> 00:34:45.159
to look at, and and glorious
structures and formations and rocks and mountains and
437
00:34:45.280 --> 00:34:49.960
deserts and all of these things,
and you enjoy them, but unbelievers enjoy
438
00:34:50.079 --> 00:34:57.360
them as well. But does God
give to everyone who asked of him what
439
00:34:57.400 --> 00:35:01.000
they asked for? No, he
doesn't, not, not even God,
440
00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:06.440
who has the ability to answer any
prayer, any need, and give to
441
00:35:06.519 --> 00:35:12.800
us exactly what we ask for.
God doesn't do that. Can any of
442
00:35:12.880 --> 00:35:15.960
us sitting in here say that whenever
you've asked for something of God, you've
443
00:35:16.039 --> 00:35:22.519
always gotten that. Now this was
word of faith church this morning, Maybe
444
00:35:22.559 --> 00:35:24.760
you'd say yes, But it's not
except if you might say to me,
445
00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:28.039
well, Pastor, I always pray
if it be Thy will, so I
446
00:35:28.079 --> 00:35:30.639
always get what I asked for.
Well, that's good, that's good.
447
00:35:30.679 --> 00:35:34.480
That's how we should pray. But
my my point is we don't always get
448
00:35:34.599 --> 00:35:38.760
exactly what it is we're wanting when
we ask of God. But God is
449
00:35:38.840 --> 00:35:45.519
generous and God is bountiful, and
so we need to be that way as
450
00:35:45.559 --> 00:35:51.440
well. But what prohibits us?
I want to give you a couple of
451
00:35:51.440 --> 00:35:55.280
problems that I think prohibit us in
the church. And here, First of
452
00:35:55.280 --> 00:36:00.559
all, understand I'm speaking of something
that I can tell you positively a big
453
00:36:00.599 --> 00:36:04.440
problem in my own life. If
it's not a problem in yours. Fine,
454
00:36:04.519 --> 00:36:09.039
just listen, move on. But
here is the problem that I have.
455
00:36:09.679 --> 00:36:13.280
First of all, I need to
say I'm not a political preacher.
456
00:36:13.320 --> 00:36:15.400
I don't get up and say this
is what you should vote for elections coming
457
00:36:15.480 --> 00:36:19.320
up. You know you have enough
TV ads to tell you about that.
458
00:36:19.400 --> 00:36:22.360
But I'm not here to talk about
that. I'm not trying here to tell
459
00:36:22.400 --> 00:36:25.199
you what party and this anything like
that. I'm not doing that. I'm
460
00:36:25.239 --> 00:36:30.280
not criticizing anyone, any pastor who
might tell you how to vote. I'm
461
00:36:30.280 --> 00:36:34.519
not criticizing them. I'm just saying
my own procedure has not been to ever
462
00:36:34.599 --> 00:36:39.000
do that. But I do speak
out on issues I believe are moral issues.
463
00:36:40.320 --> 00:36:45.480
And we all know the political divide
in our country right now is probably,
464
00:36:45.639 --> 00:36:49.920
i'd say most assuredly greater than it's
ever been, at least in my
465
00:36:50.039 --> 00:36:55.360
lifetime, the divide between right and
left, and the temptation when I hear
466
00:36:55.440 --> 00:37:00.199
certain politicians who are not on my
side of the aisle get up and say
467
00:37:00.239 --> 00:37:04.920
things, I get angry. I
get mad, and I want to answer
468
00:37:04.960 --> 00:37:07.880
to them, and I want to
say something to them. And if I
469
00:37:07.920 --> 00:37:12.000
think they're promoting certain things that go
against God and what God has commanded.
470
00:37:12.519 --> 00:37:16.519
I believe they are the enemy.
But this is where my shortcoming comes in.
471
00:37:17.239 --> 00:37:22.559
This is where my problem. I
can perceive them very easily as the
472
00:37:22.679 --> 00:37:28.000
enemy. But can I then go
the next step and love my enemy?
473
00:37:29.280 --> 00:37:34.719
But but they're speaking curses against the
Church? Can I bless them that curse
474
00:37:34.840 --> 00:37:38.559
us? The Mediana brow says.
If we find that our love is limited
475
00:37:38.559 --> 00:37:43.840
to people like us, say,
our skin color, our education level,
476
00:37:44.199 --> 00:37:47.360
our political party, And if we
find ourselves doing good only for those who
477
00:37:47.360 --> 00:37:53.320
have done us some favor, then
that may only be self love spread over
478
00:37:53.400 --> 00:38:01.639
a slightly while wider area can And
I pray for those who mistreat believers?
479
00:38:04.280 --> 00:38:09.320
Do I view them more as my
enemy or my mission field? And that's
480
00:38:09.320 --> 00:38:15.119
where I fail. I tend to
believe them more is my enemy. But
481
00:38:15.199 --> 00:38:19.280
God would say there my mission field, and I am supposed to love.
482
00:38:21.760 --> 00:38:24.679
And I realized and I believe that
the only way we will see change,
483
00:38:24.679 --> 00:38:29.239
if we do see change in our
country, it's not gonna be politics.
484
00:38:29.280 --> 00:38:34.440
It's going to be God's people praying
and doing the commands of Christ. Have
485
00:38:34.559 --> 00:38:38.280
come by a change of heart that
only God can do. But there's another
486
00:38:38.320 --> 00:38:43.760
problem that we have that sometimes hinders
us in what Jesus teach us here,
487
00:38:45.800 --> 00:38:51.480
there's something within most of us that
loves the idea of vengeance. Don't we
488
00:38:51.480 --> 00:38:54.480
we love? Don't we love movies
about vengeance? You know? We love
489
00:38:54.719 --> 00:39:00.199
John Wayne, a Magnificent Seven,
Dirty Harry, John Wick. We love
490
00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:05.559
all these guys that rise up against
their enemies and and dispatch them one by
491
00:39:05.639 --> 00:39:10.280
one. And I understand justice,
I understand judgment and all that, and
492
00:39:10.360 --> 00:39:15.280
it does seem that injustice people should
suffer vengeance for what they have done.
493
00:39:17.599 --> 00:39:21.800
But that hinders me when I think
in that way of showing the kind of
494
00:39:21.840 --> 00:39:24.719
love that Christ would have me to
show. Please don't misunderstand. I'm not
495
00:39:24.760 --> 00:39:29.239
saying to watch those movies. I'm
just saying we need to be careful how
496
00:39:29.280 --> 00:39:34.119
we look at it. But let
me speak about a different kind of vengeance.
497
00:39:35.360 --> 00:39:38.480
Let me go back to the story
I spoke about earlier about the prisoners
498
00:39:38.480 --> 00:39:43.840
of war in the Japanese prison camp
on the River Kuai. And I told
499
00:39:43.840 --> 00:39:46.320
you at that point that they said
that although they learned to love each other,
500
00:39:46.440 --> 00:39:52.639
they could never bring themselves to love
their enemies. But I want to
501
00:39:52.679 --> 00:39:57.480
pick up the story after they made
it through the war, and they're taking
502
00:39:57.519 --> 00:40:04.639
a long train ride trip back to
Britain. This event happens according now from
503
00:40:04.639 --> 00:40:08.719
the book To End All Wars,
We had found ourselves on the same track
504
00:40:09.320 --> 00:40:15.000
with several carloads of Japanese wounded.
They were on their own and without medical
505
00:40:15.039 --> 00:40:19.599
care, no longer fit for action. They've been packed into railroad trucks which
506
00:40:19.639 --> 00:40:22.519
were being returned to Bangkok. Whenever
one of them died on route, he
507
00:40:22.559 --> 00:40:28.199
was thrown off into the jungle.
The ones who survived to reach Bangkok would
508
00:40:28.199 --> 00:40:31.400
presumably receive some form of medical treatment
there, but they were given none.
509
00:40:31.440 --> 00:40:36.880
In the way. They were in
a shocking state. I'd never seen men
510
00:40:36.960 --> 00:40:42.360
filth here. The uniforms were encrusted
with mud, blood and excrement. He
511
00:40:42.440 --> 00:40:46.440
then speaks more plainly about their condition, including the magots and infested their wounds,
512
00:40:47.719 --> 00:40:52.320
and he said that by watching how
the Japanese treated their own, they
513
00:40:52.360 --> 00:40:58.239
began to understand why they were treated
the way they were treated. He goes
514
00:40:58.320 --> 00:41:00.559
on to write, without a word, most to the officers in my section
515
00:41:00.679 --> 00:41:05.599
unbuckled their packs, took out the
part of their ration and a rag or
516
00:41:05.599 --> 00:41:08.840
two, and with water canteens in
their hand, went over to the Japanese
517
00:41:08.840 --> 00:41:15.480
train to help them. Their own
guards sought to prevent them from doing this,
518
00:41:15.559 --> 00:41:19.039
but they did it anyway. They
gave food and water and said a
519
00:41:19.119 --> 00:41:22.719
kind word or two. Quoting again, he says, an allied officer from
520
00:41:22.760 --> 00:41:28.480
another section of the train had been
taking it all in. What bloody fools
521
00:41:28.519 --> 00:41:30.199
you are? All are? He
said to me. Don't you realize these
522
00:41:30.199 --> 00:41:35.920
are the enemy? Gordon replied by
relating the parable of the good Samaritan.
523
00:41:36.480 --> 00:41:39.840
The officer replied, but that's different. That's in the Bible. These are
524
00:41:39.880 --> 00:41:45.800
the swine who starved us and beat
us. They've murdered our comrades. These
525
00:41:45.960 --> 00:41:52.880
are our enemies. But in a
marvelous work of grace, Gordon and his
526
00:41:52.000 --> 00:41:59.840
fellow prisoners had learned to show love
to the enemies. So let me close,
527
00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.760
I saying, ultimately, love is
defined by who God is first John
528
00:42:04.800 --> 00:42:07.920
four eight. Anyone who does not
love does not know God, because God
529
00:42:07.039 --> 00:42:10.880
is love first John four sixteen.
So we have come to know and believe
530
00:42:10.960 --> 00:42:15.239
the love that God has for us. God is love, And whoever abides
531
00:42:15.280 --> 00:42:21.039
and love abides in God, and
God abides in him. And God's love
532
00:42:21.159 --> 00:42:25.920
is shown. Of course, most
brilliantly and clearly in John three s.
533
00:42:28.199 --> 00:42:32.119
For God so loved the world he
gave his only son that whosoever believes in
534
00:42:32.199 --> 00:42:39.719
him should not perish, but have
eternal life. In the commentary on Luke
535
00:42:39.760 --> 00:42:45.639
written by Kent Hughes, he makes
reference to a famous statement made by a
536
00:42:45.719 --> 00:42:49.639
long time talk show host by the
name of Field Donahue that some of you
537
00:42:50.039 --> 00:42:54.639
may be old enough to remember.
Donna Hue made this statement, If God
538
00:42:54.719 --> 00:42:59.599
the Father is so all love and
loving, why didn't he come down and
539
00:42:59.599 --> 00:43:02.039
go to Calvary? Then Jesus could
have said, this is my father,
540
00:43:02.159 --> 00:43:06.920
and whom I am well pleased.
How could an all knowing, all loving
541
00:43:06.960 --> 00:43:09.800
God allow his son to be murdered
on a cross in order that he might
542
00:43:09.920 --> 00:43:17.119
redeem my sins. Of course,
that question has several problems in it,
543
00:43:19.039 --> 00:43:22.119
and there are several answers that can
easily be given to that question. It's
544
00:43:22.159 --> 00:43:28.960
not that right of a question.
Perhaps foremost of the problems in that statement
545
00:43:29.119 --> 00:43:34.440
is clearly the man has no comprehension
of the trinity and what the Trinity means,
546
00:43:36.239 --> 00:43:40.800
and so because that is a difficult
doctrine, maybe we can forgive him
547
00:43:40.840 --> 00:43:47.360
for not understanding that. But the
decision the Christ to come into the world
548
00:43:47.559 --> 00:43:53.360
was a trinitarian decision. It was
a decision made by the Father's son and
549
00:43:53.440 --> 00:44:00.239
Holy Spirit. And in the death
of Christ we see the ultimate fulfillment of
550
00:44:00.320 --> 00:44:07.559
the command to love our enemies and
all the difficult things our Lord asked us
551
00:44:07.599 --> 00:44:14.480
to do in regards to our enemies. One thing that he doesn't ask is
552
00:44:14.519 --> 00:44:20.480
that we die for them, because
only Christ can die for them and their
553
00:44:20.559 --> 00:44:24.880
sins, and that is what he
did Romans five eight. God shows his
554
00:44:24.960 --> 00:44:30.239
love for us. And while we
are sinners, Christ died for us when
555
00:44:30.280 --> 00:44:32.920
we were enemies, he says in
verse ten. For if while we were
556
00:44:34.119 --> 00:44:37.599
enemies we were reconciled to God by
the death of his son, much more
557
00:44:37.679 --> 00:44:44.360
than that we are reconciled, shall
we be saved by his life. Christ
558
00:44:44.440 --> 00:44:49.800
died for you, and he died
for me, not as friends, but
559
00:44:49.920 --> 00:44:55.800
his enemies, that he might make
us his friends. John says in this
560
00:44:55.960 --> 00:45:00.400
is love, not that we have
loved God, but that He loved us
561
00:45:00.559 --> 00:45:06.519
and sent his son to be the
propitiation for our sins. There's a lot
562
00:45:06.559 --> 00:45:10.039
of commands in our section this morning, a lot of things told to do,
563
00:45:10.159 --> 00:45:15.719
But our religion is not a religion
of just doing. In fact,
564
00:45:15.199 --> 00:45:21.880
we're very careful to explain that coming
to Christ, that our being regenerate is
565
00:45:21.920 --> 00:45:25.880
not a result of any works we
have ever done. That we can never
566
00:45:25.920 --> 00:45:30.039
be saved by works. We can
never do enough works. We believe,
567
00:45:30.199 --> 00:45:35.760
as John says in First John in
in this is love, not that we
568
00:45:35.800 --> 00:45:38.400
have loved God, but that he
loved us and sent his son to be
569
00:45:38.480 --> 00:45:45.920
the propitiation for our sins. Not
a thing that I can do, not
570
00:45:46.159 --> 00:45:49.480
one of the I can say.
I'm gonna try to fulfill all of these
571
00:45:49.599 --> 00:45:54.480
verses. None of that will ever
earn me salvation. I must put everything
572
00:45:54.519 --> 00:46:00.960
away and simply, in grace come
to Christ and recognize that his death is
573
00:46:01.000 --> 00:46:07.960
all I Need's I close. Let
me quote from an old him. Nothing
574
00:46:07.320 --> 00:46:14.880
either great or small, nothing,
sinner, No, Jesus did it,
575
00:46:15.239 --> 00:46:22.440
did it all long long ago.
It is finished, Yes, indeed finished,
576
00:46:22.639 --> 00:46:28.440
every jot sinner. This is all
you need tell me, is it
577
00:46:28.480 --> 00:46:37.679
not? And this very I just
love this line. Cast your deadly doing
578
00:46:37.119 --> 00:46:49.239
down down at Jesus feet, standing
him in him alone, gloriously complete because
579
00:46:49.280 --> 00:46:53.760
of his love in dying for us, Can we pray, Our God and
580
00:46:53.880 --> 00:47:00.079
Father, we thank you that you
gave us commands that are difficult I and
581
00:47:00.079 --> 00:47:05.159
you helped us to understand how we
can best fulfill those commands. And we
582
00:47:05.320 --> 00:47:09.360
understand in our life we can't do
everything that you've literally commanded. It would
583
00:47:09.360 --> 00:47:15.760
be impossible. But yet you challenge
us in our own love towards our brothers
584
00:47:15.800 --> 00:47:21.559
and sisters, towards those that are
outside the church. Do we show love
585
00:47:21.679 --> 00:47:25.000
as we should? Are we willing
to show love? And Lord, in
586
00:47:25.079 --> 00:47:30.039
doing so, you have shown to
us the greatest love of all and sending
587
00:47:30.119 --> 00:47:36.360
your son to die for our sins, and Christ in coming and Holy Spirit
588
00:47:36.400 --> 00:47:40.440
and applying it. And so Lord, I pray, if nothing else this
589
00:47:40.480 --> 00:47:46.440
morning, there might be those who
be challenged to cast their deadly doing down
590
00:47:47.440 --> 00:47:53.559
and simply embrace Christ as the answer
to all of their needs. That there's
591
00:47:53.679 --> 00:47:59.920
nothing we can do to earn it, but the Christ on the cross has
592
00:48:00.039 --> 00:48:04.679
paid the price. And I asked
this in Christ's name. Amen,
