Loving Your Enemies  (Part 3)

No Compromise Radio

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. After several years, 16 years,

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I figured out that when I start the show, I can mute the mic and then you don't hear things like that when

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I hit the table. Well, I guess we learned, right?

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I just talked to Spencer about that last night and I'm like, duh, I could just mute that. My name is

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Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry. A couple of things in the works, an updated, small,

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I shouldn't say updated, it's a smaller version of Cancer's Not Your Shepherd, designed to hand out so it will be shorter and it will be less costly, not like the other ones that costly.

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And I'm also working on Law Gospel, A Primer, so you can understand law gospel better and use it for American Gospel television show, whatever you might want to do.

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And a parenting book, those are some of the projects in my mind, but then you get tired and you say to your wife, what's on Netflix?

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I'm always trying to find something. I did like the Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy Wars, that was probably my favorite thing on Netflix recently.

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And it really wasn't one of those things, at least in my mind, I don't think so, that you had to say, oh, you have to fast forward that part.

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I think it was pretty clean, but double check, don't take my word for it. Today on the show,

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I'd like to talk about the Lord Jesus. Well, yes,

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I would. And I want to talk to you about Him being a preacher. Years ago, the first book

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I ever wrote, there I am banging the table again, the first book I ever wrote was about Jesus the preacher.

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And day one, publishing from England, they asked me to do that. And they said they would give a copy to every man at the

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Shepherd's Conference if I wrote a book on preaching and they liked it. And if they liked it, they would hand it out because they didn't have particular pastoral ministry books at the time in their catalog, in their arsenal.

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And so I did. And first draft was like six weeks, it took me to write it.

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And so you can tell when you read it, it was kind of thrown together, but there was some stuff in there that was pretty good.

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Anyway, Jesus the preacher is an important aspect of His ministry. So if you think of threefold office, prophet, priest, and King, preacher falls under what role?

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Under what office? Obviously prophet and priest, really two main things that they do.

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They pray and they offer sacrifices. And of course, Jesus Himself is the sacrifice. And He prayed for His people on earth.

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And then also He prays now in heaven, Romans 8, Hebrews 7.

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And Jesus is King, Lord of all. Some people say,

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I don't think they should say this, and I've said it in the past. If Jesus is King now, He's not ruling very well.

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Oops. You don't want to say that. You want to be very careful. And how long have you been on that medication?

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Well, you don't want to say that. Anyway, Jesus, the prophet proclaims

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God's word. He is the best preacher. As Thomas Watson said, He's the

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Prince of Preachers. As a matter of fact, I called the book, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Preachers, and someone said to me, a very famous evangelical said, don't call it that because Spurgeon is known as the

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Prince of Preachers. And I said, not to the person, but I said, well,

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I don't think Spurgeon would mind that He's not the real Prince of Preachers. He might be a

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Prince of Preachers, but Jesus is the Prince of Preachers. And in Luke chapter 6,

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I think we come up to the first commands from the Lord Jesus. And He says, like we looked at the last show,

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He talks about loving enemies. He says it at the front end, I believe in verse 27 of chapter 6, and then

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He repeats it again in a little inclusio, as it were. He says, love your enemies and do good at the end as well.

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And that is found in verse 35. So, you've got verse 27, love your enemies, do good.

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And you have verse 35, love your enemies and do good. So, this whole section is about loving enemies, enemies of the gospel, enemies of Jesus.

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And how do you love the enemies of Jesus? Well, you love them like the Father and the

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Son loves their enemies. And that's what we were talking about last time.

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And of course, we realize that if God is kind, and He is to unbelievers, if God is merciful and He is to unbelievers, you can call it common grace if you want.

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People like A .W. Pink didn't want to call it grace because grace lend itself to thinking about salvific things.

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He would say common mercy, right, rain and moon and stars and children and music and food and intimacy and all these other things that God gives to both believer and unbeliever.

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Pink didn't want to call it common grace. So, some people call it common mercy. Either one, if you want to say that,

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He, God, is very kind and merciful to unbelievers because God is love, right?

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And I think I quoted George Swinnick last time. What happens is grace seeks unworthy, mercy seeks needy, right?

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And the full quote by Swinnick, God's justice seeks a worthy object. God's grace seeks an unworthy object, but God's mercy seeks a needy object.

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And of course, men and women, because of the fall are needy and therefore mercy seeks out the needy.

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And of course, they're unworthy as well, but the passage here is be merciful even as your father is merciful.

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So God is merciful to His enemies. And now we remember, well, we were enemies and yet we're reconciled to God.

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And therefore, we have to follow God's example out of gratitude and love enemies of the gospel who then become our enemies, our enemies.

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Why do I say that? Our, our, that's just the way it goes. How do you actually do this though?

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That's the question today. How do you do it? I mean, it's easy to say love, but then what do you do?

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I have, uh, over the years notice that some people who leave the church, well, they do it poorly.

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Some people do it admirably and honorably, and there's good ways to leave a church.

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I had one man say, Mike, I've just been trying to get my arms around Calvinism and the sovereignty of God of salvation, and I just can't do it.

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And I'm more of an Arminian. I know you love Jesus and you want to talk about him and preach the

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Bible. I just need to go to someplace else. Could you help me find another church that would align with my theological beliefs more?

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And we had a great conversation. It was a total man about it and godly, and I helped him.

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And years later, I needed some work done and call them up and, you know, it was just a great relationship.

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It's fine. I thought it was a great way to leave a church. Now, some people, when they leave a church, they want to blame, and of course there's blame to be found, right?

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Certainly in the pastorate, you know, for me, I'm certainly not the

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Lord Jesus and I'm not perfect. I'm sinful and, you know, don't do what

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I even preach all the time, obviously, but sometimes people say the church isn't loving.

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And before I just make all kinds of excuses, oh yes we are, yes we are, you don't know what you're talking about, and then shoot all that stuff down, before I do that,

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I need to take some self -inventory and say, in what areas could we become more loving?

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Have we lost our first love and therefore everything else falls off? And that is good and right for us to do.

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And I would never say, oh, there's no stock in any criticism. So let's be careful when it comes to that.

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But sometimes the criticism of not loving doesn't hold up, because my next question to the person that says, we're leaving the church because this church isn't loving, what do you think my next question's going to be?

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Well, it could be a lot of different things, but I usually say, in what ways is it not loving?

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Because it might be the way I preach, it might be the theology that I have, it might be they don't have friends, their kids don't have friends, all that other stuff.

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But sometimes it's just code for, I want to leave and I don't know how to say it, because there are many loving things that happen at the church, in terms of how do we take care of families with a newborn baby and we give them food for two weeks?

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How do we move people? We have a great, great moving ministry that is really love with shoes on.

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That is to say, lots of people come and help people move. We have a lady at our church, she's moved several times and we just have gotten together.

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Bob Muto is leading that charge and off we go to serve. So how do you leave a church?

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Well, there's lots of ways to leave a church. What does this have to do with really anything that I'm talking about? I was thinking about love, of course.

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And how do you love? That's what I'm after. And today, specifically, how do we love our enemies?

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It's one thing to say, I love, we should love, get commanded by God to love, right?

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We have this great God who loves us and now he says, love others. How do we do it? And so Jesus, the great preacher,

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I'm rescuing this right now. See, I remember what I was going to say. Jesus tells us how to do that.

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And so some of these passages here, if taken out of context, could be very difficult to implement.

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And we wouldn't really understand. We would think, oh, we're to be pacifists or we're to give all our food and money away.

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We're to give our clothes away. But the context is suffering for the Son of Man's sake.

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And how do you love people that hate Jesus and then hate you? And so Luke loves fours.

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He's got four blessings. I was going to say benedictions, but those are blessings.

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Four woes. And then now he gives four commands, love, do good, bless, and pray.

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And now he gives, I just said now he gives twice, but I don't have

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Spencer to edit things all the time. He says, to the one who strikes you on the cheek,

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Luke 6, 29, offer the other also. There's one. From the one who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic.

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That's two. Give to everyone who begs from you. That's three. And from one who takes away your goods, do not demand them back.

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That's four. Four ways to specifically love people that hate

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Jesus and hate you. Four examples. How to.

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And so the first one is the one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also.

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Now I have talked to people before who have gone to outside evangelistic opportunities in town.

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And sometimes the people, when you go to do outdoor evangelism are not happy and therefore they want to confront you.

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And I knew one particular man or know him still. And he said, if somebody is going to hit me, what do I do?

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Do I just let him hit me when I'm evangelizing? And of course, if somebody is going to strike you,

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I think you block it. Right? If they're going to try to punch you, you block it. We don't have to have people hit us.

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Right? That's not what we're talking about here. This is persecution with people, persecution of people.

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And Jesus says, if somebody strikes you on a cheek, this is not in the boxing arena.

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This is not when somebody is trying to hurt you or your family. This is when you're getting persecuted to the one who strikes you, offer the other also.

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And Jesus is working on an attitude here, an attitude of non -retaliation, an attitude of non -vengeance, an attitude of the

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Lord will repay and we don't have to. And of course, the parallel passage, the Sermon on the

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Mount, Jesus says a little bit more. He says, do not resist the one who is evil.

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But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

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So now let's think about this right cheek. Most people are right -handed.

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And so if I was going to punch someone with my right fist, it's kind of cool.

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Just think about this. Not that I would punch, but this description here, I'm going to punch you with my right fist.

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And so if I were to punch you, which side of the face would I probably hit more than the other?

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Now, if you're going to turn your chin, that's one thing, but just a straight on punch, I would be punching your left cheek.

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Would I not? Yes, I would. My right hand goes to your left cheek, right? It's that side of your body because you're on the other side, you're symmetrical to me.

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And so right to left, because you're not standing with your back to me. That is to say my right fist to the right of your head from the back.

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No, you're looking at me. I punch your left cheek.

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That would be, I mean, maybe a hitch in the chin or something like that, but you know what I'm saying?

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So how could my right hand punch your right cheek? Because Jesus says, slaps you on the right cheek.

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Well, now we have more information. Luke says, strike you on the cheek.

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So now we might be thinking punching, strike you on the one cheek. Okay, I'm punching someone. But now Matthew tells us,

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Jesus said, slaps you on the right cheek. So now it's a slap. So how do I take my right hand and slap someone on their right cheek?

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And the answer is, of course, with a backhand. That's how it happens, with a backhand.

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And of course, you know, or you most likely know that in those days, a backhand slap was a slap of disgust.

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It was a slap of, you don't even deserve my fist. You don't deserve my open hand. It was a slap of derision.

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It was not something to knock you down. It was something to offend you.

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It was an insult. It was a huge insult.

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And so if someone insults you, what do you do? You let them insult you again. You offer the other cheek to be insulted there.

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This is not an assault. This is not punching. This is not boxing.

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This is right hand of the aggressor to the right cheek of those who are following Jesus.

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It would be a backhand. Nikita Khrushchev, the ex -premier of Russia, said, we communists have many things in common with the teachings of Jesus Christ.

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My sole difference with Christ is that when someone hits me on the right cheek, I hit him on the left so hard that his head falls off.

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Now if we're to love enemies, and we are, if we were enemies and we were, and now we're reconciled because of the

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Lord's work, sovereign grace, how do we treat people? Well, we love them and we don't have to get back.

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We don't have to say, they insulted me, I insult them. They slap me, I slap them back.

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I'm going to sue for slander. I'm going to slap back. I'm going to try to get my pound of flesh.

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No, there's no score to be settled. If you slap me with an insult sharply,

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I don't have to say eye for eye, tooth for tooth, slap for slap.

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I don't have to do that. This is not saying that you cannot stand up for yourself in self -defense.

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This is not saying in the military you can't shoot people to defend your country. Luther talked about a crazy saint who let, quote, the lice nibble at him and refused to kill any of them on account of this text, maintaining that he had to suffer and could not resist evil.

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Of course we attack false doctrine. Of course we confront evil. Of course you protect your wife and children.

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I mean, Jesus cleanses the temple, does he not? Pouring out the coins of the money changers, making a whip of cords, driving them out of the temple.

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Take these things away and do not make my father's house a house of trade, Jesus said, and all these people selling the pigeons.

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His disciples thought, you know what, zeal for your house will consume me. That's all happening.

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That's good and right. He's not saying, you know what, be a pacifist.

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How about this? Did some of Jesus's disciples, slash apostles, have swords?

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And so when they first got saved, they first started following Jesus, they believed in him. He said, put all those things away.

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You never need those. Peter, what did he do? When Malchus was there, they're trying to take

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Jesus and Peter does what? He takes his sword out and Jesus let him have, and then he cuts

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Malchus's ear off and then Jesus lets Peter have it. And then Jesus puts the ear back on.

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Jesus didn't say early on, you got to get rid of that sword. No, no, there's a time and there's a place.

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And if somebody's going to try to hit you, to hurt you, to attack you, to assault you, well, of course you can defend them and stop them.

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It has nothing to do with the courts or anything like that. This is for the gospel sake. When Jesus had said these things,

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John 18, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand saying, is that how you answer the high priest?

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Jesus answered him, if what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong. But if what I said is right, why do you strike me?

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Did Jesus turn the other cheek there? Well, you know, the answer,

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Isaiah 50 verse six, there is a time to turn the cheek though. And Jesus said, I gave, here's

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Isaiah 50 verse six, I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who plucked out my beard.

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I did not hide my face from shame and spitting. Remember when they were saying, prophesy who struck you,

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Matthew 26, Jesus literally turns his cheek.

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Well, what the heck is that? Spencer, you've got to take out, I usually don't say heck.

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So Spencer, you're going to have to take that out. I don't know how to turn that sound off on my thing, Spencer. So here we go, three, two, one.

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The point is this, when you're insulted, you remember you're not your own.

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God sees it, you're persecuted, forgive them, love them, don't worry about it.

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Do good to your enemies. If you get slapped for Jesus' sake, offended for Jesus' sake, you're insulted for Jesus' sake, then you rejoice.

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It's okay. The suffering servant, the one who suffered insults is going to have servants who suffer and who have insults.

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You give them the other cheek, Lord, help me to love my enemies. Lord, help me not to fight back.

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Help me not to retaliate. Help me to have strength so I can do what's right and show love.

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And so in this whole section here, it's just about no retaliation. It's an attitude of no vengeance. One who takes away your cloak, do not hold your tunic either.

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I mean, this is all hostility, persecution. People are trying to persecute

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Christians. What do you do? It's just an attitude here. He's not saying go without clothes, but the

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Jewish people understood this. They understood that there's

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Old Testament background in Exodus chapter 22 about neighbor's garments as a pledge and give it to him before the sun goes down to return because he doesn't have anything else to sleep in.

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There's all that stuff there. The big point is, okay, it's not that big a deal.

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One man said, we will gladly part with what we may legally keep. Suffer wrong than to get involved in tit for tat, strife, lawsuits, everything else.

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It's okay. Think about Jesus. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified,

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Jesus took his garments and made four parts to each soldier, a part and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam woven from the top in one piece.

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They said, therefore, among themselves, let us not tear it, but cast lots for it. Whose it shall be that the scripture might be fulfilled, which says they divided my garments among them.

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And for my clothing, they cast lots and Jesus allowed that.

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Everything here is in the context of persecution. This is not just because we're dumb because we did something wrong.

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This is because of the Lord Jesus. Does this make sense?

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One endures sorrows while suffering unjustly, that this is a gracious thing.

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For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

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For to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps.

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He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile and return.

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When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself emphatically bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness by his wounds who have been healed.

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For you are strain like sheep, but now have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Paul understood this.

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Repay in Romans 12, no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

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If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine,

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I will repay, says the 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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Patience, forbearing, that's what we're after here on No Compromise Radio. Well, you can always email me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com.

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Sorry for the disjointed stuff today. Lots happening here in the parking lot outside in my own brain.

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So that's just what you have to do. I mean, you get what you pay for, right? That's what they say. That's the best sermon money can buy.

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I'm not so sure about that. Anyway, two books coming up shortly, working on those as best we can.

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Again, we're thankful for you to listen. And we're thankful that we're on the

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Wyoming station, the Alaska station, and in Belize. Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry.