WWUTT 1352 Heap Burning Coals on His Head (Romans 12:20)

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The Bible says, If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

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For by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. When we understand the text.

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This is when we understand the text studying God's Word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Find all our videos online at www .wtt .com As well as links to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. We continue our study in Romans, still in chapter 12.

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We got a couple of verses to go here before we finish up the chapter. I'm going to start reading in verse 19, we'll go through verse 21.

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The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome, Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God.

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For it is written, Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the

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Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

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For by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

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Yesterday we looked at verse 19, where Paul makes a reference back to Deuteronomy 32.

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Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. And oftentimes when we think about vengeance, we think about some sort of violent response.

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Someone showed violence to us, so we're going to respond with violence. Like the Avengers. Not too much difference between the words revenge and avenge.

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Revenge might be with more of a vindictive spirit, but to avenge is to inflict harm in return for harm that was done to you or to someone else.

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So the Avengers are Earth's mightiest heroes, right? In the comic books, in the movies, there is a being or an entity somewhere that is going to do violence to the

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Earth. So the Avengers step up and they respond violence for violence. But what the

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Lord says to us is that we should not have a spirit, an attitude, a kind of a heart that would want to respond to someone who shows us wrong by doing wrong to them.

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This doesn't have to be limited to a physical response, though that's the way we tend to think about it.

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It could even be a conflict of words. So someone afflicts us by saying a certain thing.

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We do not respond in the same manner. And yesterday I pointed to Christ, for he's our example according to 1

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Peter 2. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but he continued in trusting himself to his father in heaven, to him who judges justly.

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And we must do the same. If somebody is gossiping about you, you don't retaliate against them by spreading some gossip about them.

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For scripture has said that is wrong. You do not slander your neighbor or anyone.

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We speak truth to one another, and according to Ephesians 4, we are to speak the truth in love.

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So leave it unto God. Maybe we do not get justice for the wrong that was done to us in this lifetime, but God does have the final say.

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He is the ultimate judge, and he will make all things right. Do you believe that about God?

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Do you know that about him? Are you content with letting God be judge over any and all affairs that happen in all of human history, past, present, and future?

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God will have the final say over these things. He is working something ultimately for our good.

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As it says in Romans 8, 28, God works things together for good for those who love

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God and are called according to his purpose. Remember what Joseph said to his brothers.

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His brothers, I mean, treated him with more wrong than perhaps anyone is ever going to show me and you.

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They threw him in a well. They sold him into slavery. They were going to kill him if it wasn't for Ruben that convinced them not to do this thing.

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But then he's sold into a foreign nation. He's away from his home. He's not with his father or his family.

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He is wrongly accused even while he is a slave. He gets thrown in prison. He does a favor for one of the prisoners.

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The prisoner does not show him favor in return. But then finally a day comes when he's brought before Pharaoh, interprets some dreams, and he's made the second most powerful person in the world.

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And in that position, he is able to save the lives of his family, the family that sold him into slavery.

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He saves the lives of his brothers when a great famine strikes the land. And when his brothers fear him and they think that he is going to show revenge to them,

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Joseph says to them in Genesis 50 -20, What you meant for evil against me,

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God meant for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.

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Joseph had any and every right to take revenge out on his brothers, but he did not.

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He showed mercy to them, though they did not show mercy to him. And submitting himself unto

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God, he recognized that though his brothers had done evil against him,

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God meant it for some ultimate good, a good beyond what would just happen there in the story in Genesis, but that Judah would be preserved, and from his line would come the

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Savior so that we all might live by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who died for us on the cross and rose again from the grave so that all who believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

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No one was ever wronged more than Christ. Have you ever heard somebody philosophically opining and asking the question,

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Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? And the answer to that question is, that only happened once, and he volunteered.

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The only good person who has ever lived is Jesus Christ, who did not deserve any of the things that happened to him, but he willingly, in submission to the

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Father, gave his life so that we might live. We were once enemies of God.

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We had rebelled against God, and what we deserve is judgment, but through Christ we are saved.

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And if we follow Christ as our example, then we should know, entrusting ourselves to him who judges justly, that vengeance belongs to the

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Lord. He will repay. Leave it to the wrath of God. Paul goes on in verse 20 to say,

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To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.

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If he is thirsty, give him something to drink, for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.

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This is another Old Testament reference, and this goes back to Proverbs 25, verses 21 and 22.

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If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the

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Lord will reward you. That's a nice little addition in there, when you go and look up the reference in Proverbs.

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Oftentimes when we read this verse, talking about the one in Romans 12, verse 20, when you hear a preacher preach on this verse, or somebody writes a blog, and they do a little devotional thought on this verse, it's often communicated that heaping burning coals means that you're making a person feel guilty for the way that they acted.

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They treated you unkindly. They showed evil towards you, but you responded with kindness, and you showed them charity.

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And so now they feel guilty about that. Oh, man, I was so mean to you, and you were so nice to me.

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Well, I've had a change of heart, and now I'm converted. I'm going to be a nice person from now on.

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So that the ultimate revenge that we can show to somebody is to show kindness to them, and then they will be won over by our kindness.

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More often than not, that's the way you hear this verse taught. If your enemy is hungry, feed him.

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If he is thirsty, give him something to drink, for by so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.

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So this burning coals feeling is like the flushness he will feel because, oh, I did something bad, so now

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I feel bad because I showed bad to you. That's not the reference here. Remember the verse prior says,

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I will repay, says the Lord. Leave it to the wrath of God. So if you want to have any manner of vengeance on a person who showed evil to you, then here's what you should do.

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Feed him. Show love and kindness to this person. Give him something to drink.

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He treated you with evil. You treat him with kindness. You treat him as Jesus treated us, though we were enemies of God, right?

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He gives us food to eat and water to drink. He gives us the water of the

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Holy Spirit, which is an unending spring of water that leads to eternal life.

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That's the way Jesus put it with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. He gives us true food, as he talks about in John 6.

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Whoever feeds upon Christ and his word will never die, but we will receive the kingdom of God.

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This is the food and drink that Jesus gives to us. And you could translate that the same way. You could incorporate that the same way in a spiritual sense here even.

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So when your enemy treats you with evil, you give him the gospel. You call him to repentance.

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You say, believe in Christ. You will be forgiven and live. And if your enemy is convicted by those words, then you have won him over to eternal life.

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The justice of God that that man or woman or whoever has done you evil deserves has been paid for by Christ on the cross, who has absorbed the wrath of God.

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But if that person does not repent, then the wrath of God is on his or her head.

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This reference to burning coals as it comes up in the Old Testament, this is a reference to judgment.

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It is not a reference to feeling guilty. It is a reference to a person perishing under the judgment of God.

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Consider Psalm 140, beginning in verse 9. As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them.

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Let burning coals fall upon them. Let them be cast into fire, into miry pits, no more to rise.

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Let not the slanderer be established in the land. Let evil hunt down the violent man speedily.

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What are we talking about here? We're talking about the judgment of God coming upon those who do evil.

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That's the reference to burning coals. It's the judgment of God. In Proverbs 25, it's no different.

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So let me read you again, verses 21 and 22. If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat.

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And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. For you will heap burning coals on his head and the

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Lord will reward you. So he receives judgment and you get blessing. That's the contrast there.

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And several other verses surrounding that passage there in Proverbs 25 talk about the response that comes to the wicked.

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Verse 18, going back up a few verses. A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a war club or a sword or a sharp arrow.

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Trusting in a treacherous man in a time of trouble is like a bad tooth or a foot that slips.

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I'm going to go down now to verse 23. The north wind brings forth rain and a backbiting tongue, angry looks.

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It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.

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So what do you see there in all those verses? It's talking about those who do wrong and they will receive judgment for the wrong that they do.

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Whereas we who respond with kindness, who do the will of the Lord, who reflect the mercy of God, we receive a reward from God.

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That's sort of the picture that's being painted there in Proverbs 25. And again, even there in verse 22, the reference to burning coals is a reference to the judgment of God.

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In Ezekiel 10, there is a reference to burning coals being sprinkled over those who are being judged by God.

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That's the reference to burning coals. So it's not a guilty conscience. It is the actual judgment of God.

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So if you really want to get revenge on those who do evil to you, show kindness to them and then the vengeance of God comes upon them on the day of judgment.

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Now that doesn't necessarily mean that the attitude of our heart should be, I'm going to show you kindness and then the judgment of God is going to come upon you.

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That's not the way that we approach that. We genuinely are concerned for this person. And like I said, this doesn't have to be understood strictly in terms of doing kind works for somebody, like literally giving them food or literally giving them something to drink.

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Although that may be the application. But we also find an application in the sense that you need to give the gospel to this person.

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If a person who is evil treats you wrongly, don't look at that person going, well,

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I'm never going to share the gospel with them because I would rather the judgment of God come upon them than they repent of their sin and live.

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Well, then you must repent because you may not be saved either if that's what you desire for somebody else.

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Charles Spurgeon has said, do you not desire that other men be saved? Then you are not saved either. You can be sure of that.

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We should absolutely desire that this person who is an enemy of ours would repent of their sin and come to Christ and become a friend of God and therefore a brother or a sister in the

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Lord. We should want that because we were once enemies of God and he showed kindness to us instead of pouring forth his wrath on us, which is definitely what we deserve.

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And so to save this person who has done evil, you recognize they have done wrong, they have sinned, what they deserve is judgment and that's what will come to them if they do not repent.

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So in their best interest, in love that you have for them, you give them the gospel. Repent, you say to them, turn from your sin and believe in Jesus Christ for you are doing evil for which you will receive judgment if you do not turn to Jesus who will forgive you your sins and give you entrance into his eternal kingdom.

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And then if they do repent, we get to share at the Lord's table together showing fellowship through an acknowledgment of the body and the blood that was given for us.

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Eating food, drinking drink to the glory of God demonstrating his grace among us.

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Can you imagine that? Can you see that kind of a picture? Would you rejoice to participate in such a thing?

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That this person who was once evil toward you, who showed contempt toward you is now a brother or a sister in the

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Lord sharing with you at the Lord's table the bread and the cup, food and drink because you shared the gospel with them and they turned from their sin and now you're unified together in Christ.

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We can only have that kind of unity in Christ. I have had the chance to enjoy this kind of a thing before.

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About 15 years ago, I was singing at another church. I had been invited to come and lead worship at this particular church.

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Little small town in Kansas. They were doing, it wasn't exactly a revival but they were just kind of having a week long church services just celebrating in God's goodness for them.

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So they were gathering every evening over the course of that week. There was one evening in particular I looked about two people over from me and there was a man sitting there whom

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I recognized immediately and there was like a tremble in my soul overseeing him because this was a man who used to bully me.

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He bullied me in middle school and a little bit in high school. We didn't see each other as much in high school.

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It was definitely more so in middle school. His name was Ryan and he was just sitting just a couple of people over from me and I looked over and saw him.

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This was a town that neither one of us lived in together. We attended a different high school in a different place.

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But here we were in the same small town sitting in the same pew with one another. I wondered, why is he there?

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Why is he here? This man was not a Christian. I don't know why he's here. At some point he saw that I was looking at him and he kind of leaned over and looked at me and he said,

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Hey Gabe. And I just, Hi? What ended up happening is at some point in the service, he came up.

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The pastor introduced him and he said to the congregation, this is Ryan and Ryan wants to be a

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Christian. He has accepted Christ as his Savior. He's going to be baptized. And we're asking you as a church to welcome him into the brotherhood.

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And Ryan shared his testimony that he had become an alcoholic and a drug abuser and now he is attempting to turn his life around and become a

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Christian for Christ. I couldn't believe it. I was just absolutely beside myself in my pew.

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But man, I ran up to him after the service was over and I said, God bless you Ryan. This is amazing.

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This is incredible. And then we did not exactly have communion because I don't think that was part of that service, but then we did go eat a potluck together.

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So we did break bread and have fellowship together. But here I was sitting across from this man who years before treated me like dirt.

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And I was, I loved being able to sit there and call him a brother. There are people that I pray for who have treated me with evil, even in recent years.

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And I pray for them that they would repent and come to know the Lord and live that we might fellowship together again, breaking bread together, rejoicing in the

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Lord's table together. This is what I would want for any person. I would not desire that anyone would go to hell and perish.

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That is the righteous judgment of God. But that is the Lord who will avenge.

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Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. How are we supposed to treat a person who shows evil to us?

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If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For by so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.

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Judgment will come upon that person if they do not repent, but grace and mercy for those who do.

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And that's what we should desire. As far as our conduct is concerned, we submit ourselves unto the

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Lord. Amen? Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the goodness you have shown to us, for we are certainly deserving of your judgment, every one of us.

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There's nobody listening to the sound of my voice that can say, I am a good person who does not deserve to go to hell.

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All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but we are justified by your grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom you put forward as a propitiation by his blood.

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And we receive this justification by faith. May we take this message of the gospel and share it with others, so they may put their faith in Jesus and live.

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And let that be our heart for other people, even our enemies. We love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

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In Jesus' name. Amen. Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues.

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You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com. Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's Word, when we understand the text.