The Book of Matthew Part IV

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We have reached the section of Matthew, which is called the Sermon on the
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Mount. I don't know how long we're gonna be here. This is often called the
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Sermon on the Mount. This mount, if it was really more like a hill, is
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Jesus's first big sermon that's recorded for us in the Gospels. And there are tons of people.
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There are crowds upon crowds of people here from all different cities, all different areas.
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And Matthew has the fullest description of this sermon, so we're gonna be here for a little bit.
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This lasts three chapters, chapter 5, 6, and chapter 7. Jesus sits down, which is the normal position for teaching, and they're all there waiting for him to speak.
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If you're keeping up with The Chosen, this is where The Chosen left off for season 3. No, there probably wasn't a curtain there, but I'll tell you what, that show's got it pretty right so far.
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Anyway, this first section of Matthew, chapter 5, is often called the
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Beatitudes, the Blessings, and he talks about what people are blessed.
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And as we read this, I want you to notice something. First off, all of these are opposite of the ways of the world. And secondly, all of the rewards are basically a description of heaven.
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So there is a future fulfillment for these rewards, but there's also a temporary fulfillment now in that hope, and the joy, and the blessings that come now.
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So it's kind of a both -and. Starting in verse 3, Jesus says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. That's a quote from Proverbs.
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Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Let me ask you a question. Can that describe you?
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Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? Is it something you feel is a need?
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Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
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Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you, and persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil false on your account.
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Rejoice and be glad. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
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Rejoice and be glad. I call the
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Beatitudes kind of like a second kind of list of the fruit of the Spirit. These are things that those who are following God should strive after and will produce to some level.
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As I said, all these rewards are descriptions of heaven, but we experience the joy, peace, and happiness now in our awaiting the assured fulfillment of those blessings in heaven.
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I think the main thing Jesus is pointing out is humility, which is the theme of this whole passage, has been the way to please
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God and always has been. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. A broken and contrite heart,
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O God, you will not despise. It has always been about humility, and when people revile and persecute us and utter all kinds of evil, our response should be joy and gladness.
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Rejoice and be glad. Looking at Luke 6 23, I just want to see what Luke has to say about it in his rendition of the
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Sermon on the Mount. This is Luke 6 23. Luke 6 23.
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Rejoice in that day and leap for joy. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy when someone persecutes you.
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That is what our response should be when people persecute us for our beliefs in the
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Savior, for our beliefs in the Bible. So, these blessings of the
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Beatitudes are blessings that we receive in part now, but are not finally given to us until we reach heaven.
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Jesus is promising that if you follow what I'm telling you to follow, you will be persecuted.
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Now, here he talks to these crowds, and he says, you, if you're a believer, you are the salt of the earth.
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But if the salt has lost its taste, how will its saltiness be restored? It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on the people's feet.
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You are the light of the world. The fos. The fos. You are the light of the world.
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A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand it gives light to the whole house.
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In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they can see your good works and glorify your
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Father or give glory to your Father, which is in heaven. What does salt do?
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He says, you are the salt of the earth. What does salt do? Well, salt preserves, keeps things from spoiling or decaying, it purifies, and it makes palatable.
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We are the salt of the earth because we are to preserve the goodness. We are to preserve the godliness that is here on the planet.
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Keep it from spoiling or decay. Keep it from being as bad as it could be. We are to purify, that is to drive out the already present bacteria to act as a cleansing agent.
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We are to make palatable, to give it a taste that is pleasing. We are the salt of the earth. We're also the light, a city on a hill.
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You know, Birmingham, Alabama is not exactly a metropolis, but whenever I drive down 78
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Highway 78, Interstate 78, Highway 78 From Memphis, and I'm driving there.
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I'm going down these hills and up now, and there's nothing there guys, nothing. All of a sudden
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I come down this hill, and then I come up, and I see on a hill After a big valley of the interstate,
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I see Birmingham, and it just lights up the entire area. It's a city on a hill.
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It can't be hidden. It's there for all to see. We are to be that kind of light, to shout from the rooftops.
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We're to be that kind of light. We're to be a guide, a pointed direction and purpose, like the star of the Wiseman followed to find
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Jesus. Light dispels darkness and exposes what's hidden. It shows people where they're at and where they're going.
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When the Bible says, Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. It's a lamp unto my feet to show me where I'm at, and it's a light to my path to show me where I'm going.
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That's what the Bible is. But verse 16, the let your light so shine before men that they will see your good works and glorify your
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Father in heaven. I call it the evangelism of our actions. God planned out good works for believers ahead of time so that others may see, be encouraged, be built up by, all for the purpose of glorifying the
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Father. Our light should shine so brightly before we've even opened our mouth, they can see our good works and give glory to the
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Father in heaven. Now here is a turning point in this chapter.
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It's almost like a parenthetical. Verse 17 says, Jesus tells the crowds, don't think I've come to abolish the law and prophets.
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I've come not to abolish them, but fulfill them. I want you to think about this. Why would
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Jesus have to say that? Jesus is about to talk about six things. He's about to talk about,
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I wrote them down here, murder, adultery, divorce, false swearing, retaliation, and loving your enemies.
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And all he's going to do is teach what God has taught all along, what the Bible has said all along.
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But because man's religion has so twisted the Word of God, when he tells them what the
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Bible says, when he literally just tells them what the Bible says, they're gonna think he's starting a new religion.
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Jesus is not starting new religion. He's restoring it back to the Word of God that it always was meant to be.
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But he knows these crowds are gonna be so shocked by him plainly teaching the Word of God, he actually has to preface it by saying, don't think
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I'm coming to start a new religion. Don't think I'm coming to destroy the Law and the Prophets. I'm not coming to destroy the
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Law and the Prophets. I'm coming to fulfill them. I'm coming to destroy your idea, your interpretation, what you've been taught about them, what the
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Pharisees and the scribes have told you. I've not come to abolish the Law and the
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Prophets, the Old Testament. I've come to fulfill them in the same way that he fulfills prophecy. It doesn't make that prophecy not useful anymore.
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It just means it's fulfilled. Okay, when Jesus fulfills prophecies of Isaiah, does that make those prophecies uninspired?
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No, it just means they're fulfilled. We're not to look for those still to be fulfilled in a future prophecy. When God fulfills the
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Law, yes, it means we don't follow the Law in the same way that they did because Jesus fulfilled it.
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We follow it in a different way. For I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the
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Law until all is accomplished. Yeah, see, I'm not starting a new thing. I'm not doing away with the Old Testament or Exodus or Leviticus or any of that.
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I've come to fulfill it, just like I fulfill prophecy. Whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
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Whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. So we definitely don't want to relax.
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Definitely don't want to relax the commands of God. We want to obey them in the sense that God told us to.
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So people ask me, Josiah, why do you eat catfish? Why do you eat pork?
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Well, because God has not commanded me to obey that Law. In Mark 17 verse 7, sorry,
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Mark 7 19, Jesus declared all foods clean to eat. The Law was a group of commands given to the ethnic people of Israel that God commanded them to do.
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Now, the moral of those laws are still binding on us today, and we obey and uphold and fulfill the
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Law, but not in the same way the people of Israel did. Okay? Just like this,
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Jonah chapter 1 verse 2. Does everyone believe we should obey Jonah 1 2? Well, Jonah 1 2 says rise and go to Nineveh.
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So why are all Christians not in Nineveh right now? Oh, because God wasn't talking to you. He was talking to Jonah.
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Is that me abolishing or relaxing the command of Jonah 1 2? No. The purpose of it, the moral of it, is when
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God tells you to go somewhere, you go the first time. But I tell you, unless the righteous succeeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you'll not enter the kingdom of heaven.
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You think those guys are righteous? You need a perfect righteousness to enter heaven. That won't do it. It only comes through faith in Jesus.
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So here we go. There are six things Jesus is about to restore back to their original intent, not something new to their original intent.
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You've heard it said, You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable for judgment.
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You notice the Pharisees are mostly doing oral teaching. The people are not, for the most part, reading the Bible themselves.
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You heard it said, you shall not murder, whoever murders will be liable for judgment. But I say to you that everyone who's angry at his brother will be liable for judgment.
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Whoever insults his brother will be liable for counsel, and whoever says you fool will be liable for the hell of fire.
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Not just outward murder, but the attitude of the inward heart that leads to murder, even if it just leads to verbal abuse, is enough to make one guilty of hell.
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Know what James says about if we break just one law of God, we're guilty of them all. The antidote is verse 20 and 3.
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What is the antidote to that type of hatred, that type of verbal abuse to your brother? So, Real important word here.
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So, if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there, remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there, before the altar, and go.
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First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. That is what you're supposed to do.
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Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you're going to with him in court, lest your accuser hand you over the judge.
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I'm a judge to the guard, and he'll be put in prison. Truly, I tell you, you will never get out until you've paid the last penny.
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Now here, we move on to lust. You've heard it said, you shall not commit adultery.
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So, we have the Pharisees obeying the outward law, the letter of the law, not the spirit.
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We see this today. Maybe some of us have been guilty of this before. Well, I didn't have sex with that person.
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I wasn't sexually immoral, because sex is defined as this, and we didn't do that. You have heard it said, you should not commit adultery.
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Jesus goes, but the intent of that always was this. I tell you that everyone who looks at a woman with a lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
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It was always about the intent of the law, the heart of the matter, not just the outward obedience. If your right eye caused you to sin, tear it out and throw it away, for it's better you to lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown in hell.
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If your right hand caused you to sin, cut it off and throw it away, for it's better you use one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown in hell.
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So, we have people saying, oh, well, I obeyed the seventh commandment, because I didn't technically commit adultery.
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But, in your heart, you're lusting, you're epithume, oh, let me get it right, epithume, epithume, excuse me, you are coveting after the other woman.
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You're already violating the tenth commandment, if you shall not covet. Same word used for lust, the same word used for covet.
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You're coveting her in your heart. You're lusting after her. You've already broken the tenth commandment, and since all the commandments are always a matter of the heart, not just the law, you're also not really obeying the commandment about committing adultery, even if you didn't actually touch her.
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Divorce. It was said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. That's a quote from Deuteronomy. But I tell you, so they were teaching this as if, okay, all you have to do is give her a certificate, you can divorce her for whatever reason, when that's not the intent of what
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Moses said. I tell you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the grounds of sexual morality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
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We'll talk more about marriage when we get to chapter 19. Again, you've heard it said of those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the
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Lord what you have sworn. But I'll tell you, don't take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it's the throne of God, or by earth, for it's his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it's the city of the great king.
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Don't take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your yes simply be yes or no.
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I'm sorry, let what you say be simply yes or no, anything more comes from evil, or the evil one. In other words, you should live your life so honestly, that simply you saying yes or no should be so binding, should be so covenant promising, it's as if you're taking an oath.
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That's how serious your word matters. That's how much it matters if you say yes or no, someone should be able to trust you, that you saying yes or no should be the same as you swearing to them that it is so.
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You've heard it said an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The intent of that law, guys, was to limit retaliation.
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If he punches you and knocks your tooth out, you're not allowed to kill him. The intent of that law from the
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Old Testament was only an eye for an eye, only a tooth for a tooth. That is all you're allowed to do.
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You're not allowed to retaliate more. It's equal balancing scales. That's a way for a judge to say, yes, you did this, but that doesn't deserve life in prison, right?
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Only an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth in retaliation. But Jesus also says, don't resist the one who's evil.
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If anyone slaps you, not punches you or pulls out a knife, but if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, let him turn the other also.
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If anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak also. If anyone forced you to go one mile, go two with them.
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Give to the one who begs for you. Do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. And then lastly, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
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This is what was quoted. You've heard it said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. This first part's a quote from Leviticus 19.
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This last part is not found in the Bible, hating your enemy. I tell you, love your enemies.
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Pray for those who persecute you. Man, that's a tough one, isn't it? So that, why do we love our enemies and pray for them to persecute us?
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So you may be sons of our father who's in heaven, for he makes his son rise. He makes his son, it's his, his son rise on evil and on good and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
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If you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don't even tax collectors do the same? If you only greet your brothers, what more are you doing than others?
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Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore, you must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.
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That's a fun verse, isn't it? Um, do you notice something?
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Matthew, the tax collector, points out that even, that Jesus uses tax collectors as his example.
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If you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don't even tax collectors do that, even evil people. Just another little hint.
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The Bible wasn't written by a bunch of guys named Bob. It wasn't written 30,
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I'm sorry, three centuries later by some priest. Matthew doesn't hide, doesn't hide the fact that Jesus called out his own class of people.
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This would have been embarrassing for Matthew to write down. Matthew did it because it was true. Because Matthew wasn't trying to spin,
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Matthew wasn't trying to spin the gospel to how he wanted to. He was honest. Jesus called out his own group of people, tax collectors.
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So there's the first chapter of the Sermon on the Mount. There is Matthew chapter 5. And next time we have chapter 6.
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We won't spend too long on chapter 6 because we already did. We already covered the section on prayer, but then we got to do the study of anxiety.
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All right, guys. I hope this is beneficial to you. I hope this is of some benefit to you. Please like, share, subscribe, comment.
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