The Sermon on the Plain (2) 04/02/2023

First Baptist Church Leominster

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And Read for us now from the New Testament of our Lord's triumphal entry as recorded in Mark 11 1 through 13

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You know, we've already sung two psalms We sang Psalm 32 in that first hymn and then we just completed

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Singing from Psalm 19 the Lord, of course delights when we sing his word back to him

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And there are many psalms and in our Trinity hymnal that are just wonderful So pastor

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Jason if you'll read then pray for us, please Mark chapter 11 verses 1 to 13

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Now when they drew near to Jerusalem to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them

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Go into the village in front of you and immediately as you enter it You will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat

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Untie it and bring it if anyone says to you why are you doing this say the

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Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately and they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street and they untied it and Some of those standing there said to them.

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Why are you doing? What are you doing untying the colt? and they told them that Jesus had said and they let them go and They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it and he sat on it and many spread their cloaks on the road and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields and Those who went before and those who followed were shouting

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Hosanna Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord blessed is the coming kingdom of our father.

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David Hosanna in the highest and He entered Jerusalem and they went into the temple and when they had looked around at everything as it was already late

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He went out to Bethany with the twelve on the following day when they came from Bethany he was hungry and Seeing in the distance of fig a fig tree in leaf.

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He went to see if he could find anything on it When he came to hit he found nothing but leaves for it was not the season for figs

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And he said to it may no one ever eat fruit from you again And his disciples heard it Let's pray

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Heavenly Father We just we thank you for the word of truth

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We thank you for its effectiveness in our lives Lord, we thank you that you've given us your spirit to help us understand the word help us apply the word and help us to Live it out in our day -to -day lives and Lord when we think about this triumphal entry of Christ It's amazing how quickly the people turn on him and Lord, it's amazing how quickly we often turn to sin

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Even though we know you are the king So Lord, we confess these things to you. We pray that we would live as right subjects under your rule

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Help us now Lord as we open up the scriptures and as we study this text We pray Lord that you would guide us and lead us in your truth

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Thank you Lord in Jesus name. Amen Well, let's turn in our

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Bibles please to Luke chapter 6 as we continue our study of this gospel

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Last week we began to work through the Sermon on the plane as recorded in Luke 6

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We showed that three divisions of this sermon may be discerned These include the following perspectives of kingdom citizens

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Secondly principles of kingdom living and then thirdly we have proofs of kingdom citizenry and Of course we address the first of these

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Divisions or sections last Lord's Day perspectives of kingdom Citizens and just to refresh our understanding

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Let's again read these verses Then he Jesus lifted up his eyes toward his disciples and said blessed are you poor

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For yours is the kingdom of God blessed are you who hunger now? For you shall be filled blessed are you who weep now?

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For you shall laugh Blessed are you when men hate you? When they exclude you and revile you and cast out your name as evil for the son of man's sake

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Rejoice in that day and leap for joy For indeed your reward is great in heaven for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets

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But woe to you who are rich For you have received your consolation

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Woe to you who are full for you shall hunger Woe to you who left now for you shall mourn and weep

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Woe to you when all men speak well of you for so did their fathers to the false prophets

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And so the citizen of the kingdom of God that is the true disciple of Jesus Christ Is to view and assess things differently than he once did

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He had new perspectives with respect to himself and others and to the world over which

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Jesus Christ is Lord his views of his Relationship with God through Christ and the promises regarding Christ and his people gives him a different worldview

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Than what he had held before his conversion Everything's changed Through the teaching of the

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Word of God the kingdom citizen comes to understand that one's desirable and pleasant Circumstances in life are not a proof of divine blessing

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Nor Our difficulties in life indicative of God's disfavor or cursing

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So goes or dispels the health and wealth gospel preachers On the one hand

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Jesus had pronounced those are blessed of God whom the world thought were cursed of him On the other hand

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Jesus had pronounced those are cursed of God whom the world thought were blessed of God He turned everything on its head

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In the ways of the Lord are often opposite to the views of the fallen world When considering the contrast between what

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Jesus was pronouncing to be a blessed person and the one who is a cursed person We recognize that what

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Jesus was teaching. These people was quite revolutionary The people thought the rich were blessed of God and the poor were cursed of God Jesus said the opposite was true

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The people thought those who were full of food who were ones without need were blessed of God the hungry were cursed

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Jesus said the opposite was true The people thought those who were happy and content were blessed of God But the sad and depressed were cursed of him.

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Jesus said the opposite was true The people thought those who were regarded with esteem by everybody were blessed of God and Those who were hated by men were cursed of God Jesus said the opposite was true

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And so the citizens of the kingdom of God may view their afflictions and difficulties of this life to be a cause of rejoicing

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For they are emblems of God's good designs for his people that live in expectation of the future

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But in contrast non believers that is non disciples of Jesus Christ Who live for and seem to enjoy the good things of this life may be found to be cursed of God What our

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Lord was teaching his disciples is that their hope is not in this world but rather it's to be fixed on the age to come upon the world yet to be realized and Problems remind us of this

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Or they should They serve to divorce us from unwholesome ties to this fallen world

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They wean us from things that we should not have our hearts set upon They serve us in directing our hopes and thoughts to eternal things

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Pain and problems motivate us to order our present lives in faith with view to Christ's coming and the glorious future that God has promised us in Jesus Christ Well after our

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Lord set forth his Before his disciples the kind of worldview they were to possess as kingdom citizens.

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Jesus then set forth principles of kingdom living The King over the kingdom of God would have his citizens live according to his laws and so Jesus gave directives

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Commands as to how kingdom citizens are to live in this fallen world and that's what we have in verses 27 to 38

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Principles of kingdom living. So this is the second division of our Lord's Sermon on the plain

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Jesus taught the people these words, but I say to you I Say to you who hear love your enemies

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Do good to those who hate you Bless those who curse you Pray for those who spitefully use you

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To him who strikes you on the one cheek offer the other also and From him who takes away your cloak your outer garment.

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Do not withhold your tunic either that which was on directly on the skin Give to everyone who asks of you and from him who takes away your goods.

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Do not ask them back And just as you want men to do to you you also do to them likewise

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But If you love those who love you what credit is that to you for even sinners love those who love them and If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you for even sinners do the same?

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and If you lend to those for from whom you hope to receive back what credit is that to you?

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For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back But Love your enemies do good and land hoping for nothing in return and your reward will be great

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And you will be the sons of the Most High for he is kind to the unthankful or ungrateful as ESV says and evil and Therefore be merciful just as your father also is merciful

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Judge not and you shall not be judged Condemn not you shall not be condemned

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Forgive and you will be forgiven Give and it will be given to you good measure pressed down shaken together running over will be put into your bosom

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For with the same measure that you use it will be measured back to you

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Principles of kingdom living Now before we begin to work through these details

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We might consider two points of introduction First these are not simply suggestions on how we ought to live

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But these are directives of how we are to live if we are citizens of the kingdom of God We cannot pick and choose from the scriptures what we care to follow and disregard what we choose to neglect or reject

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As subjects to King Jesus we are to obey laws that he has set forth which govern his citizens

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These words are the standard for life established by the king and So we should understand very clearly what he's saying to us in these words now granted

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There is always in every Christian a period of growth the last a lifetime in our understanding and faithful application of these principles

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But the principles are clear and fixed by our Lord It's our responsible

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Responsibility to hear and heed what he teaches us as citizens of his kingdom That these things should characterize us

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Of course, we do so in faith live in faith Although we may not perceive initially that it will go well for us for having done

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So some of these commands just don't make sense in this fallen world But we are to walk by faith not by sight

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We're to obey even though we may not see how this is going to turn out well for us we obey

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The Lord would have us believe and obey his word even when it does not seem initially that it's the best course for us to take

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It is generally after we've obeyed in faith that the Lord then reveals to his people how he's working on behalf of us through his word

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We believe Obey, and then it makes sense to us We shouldn't have the added attitude.

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I need to know that this is going to work out for me and then I will agree to do it That is the attitude of a rebel not a citizen of the kingdom of God And then secondly as a

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Preface to considering this passage We recognize there's an overarching principle

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Which pervades all these principles and this is the principle of love as stated in verse 27 a but I say

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Do you love your enemies? Love is the principle ethic of the kingdom of God It is the primary teaching of our

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Lord It's the principle of love which is to govern how we're to live and relate to the world around us It's set forth clearly in More than one place but in the familiar words of our

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Lord when a man asked him a very important question teacher Which is the great which is the great commandment in the law?

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And Jesus said to him you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind

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This is the first and great commandment and the second is like it You shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets

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And so love is the principle that governs everything or which everything is consistent with Here in the

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Sermon on the Plain Jesus first commands the people but I say to you who hear love your enemies and What is implied in this statement?

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Is it? We have a responsibility to love everyone You do not need to be commanded to love them who love you you do that naturally

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So if you love your enemies you will be loving everyone Jesus is making it clear that no one is exempt from your love.

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Even if he's an enemy he qualifies and You have a responsibility to love him

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Now two possible points of objection might arise in our thinking First one might say

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I can't do that pastor for I'm thinking of a person who has wronged me deeply and wrong people

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I love and very candidly. I not only do not love him, but I resent him bitterly

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Is there then no hope for me unless I change my feelings for this guy and secondly

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And besides nobody loves everybody We're honest But pastor just a few minutes ago

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You said that these things must be obeyed if we're to be regarded as true disciples true citizens of the kingdom

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How can anybody be a true disciple? So are we all without hope?

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But these two objections reveal errant thinking regarding the meaning of love and What it is to love as taught in the

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Bible Most people have unwittingly embraced an aberrant view of love which has been imposed upon us by the world

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We tend to view love in terms of feelings of affection We speak of falling in love being loved in terms of romantic infatuation

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Truly our world is driven by this concept of love People are driven in relationships often consumed by the desire to be the recipients of someone else's attention and affection and Oftentimes God's love is perceived or perhaps better is misperceived only in these terms

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God has in endearing affections for everybody And so God's love is commonly understood to be

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God's feelings of affection for people in spite of who they are in spite of what they do After all this reason

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God loves unconditionally how often have you heard that? Many assume that in spite of the world being

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Populated by people who are in rebellion to God and his laws that God loves us. That is

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God has this Emotional infatuation with all people. He just gets warm and fuzzy whenever he thinks about you and Then it's it's wrongly concluded since God loves me.

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I must be lovable And that's the way the world thinks we all really must be lovable God just overlooks all of our faults and all of our sins because he loves us.

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It's really a wrong view of love as Somehow of emotional affection for people and The result of that of course often rebels toward God have a false sense of well -being and security

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They think God loves them in spite of what they do Now the

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Bible does indeed pronounce and illustrate throughout its pages that our God is a loving God and Perhaps a clear statement of this truth is in 1st

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John we have known and believed the love that God has for us God is love he who abides in love abides in God and God in him

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And so this is the truth. Of course, it rings clear and true acknowledged by all who call themselves

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Christians and Yet though the truth of God's love is commonly held and commonly affirmed it's a subject that is commonly misunderstood and We can attribute this in our

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Western culture to the age of romanticism from about 1770 to the mid 19th century 1850 or so the age of romanticism where there was a rejection of the

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Enlightenment and rationalism and there was an emphasis on feelings and emotion Romanticism John MacArthur wrote love is the best -known but least understood of all

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God's attributes False assumptions are held false assertions are made about God's love and you hear it all the time

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Jerry, I Packer Described it this way st. John's twice repeated statement God is love is one of the most tremendous utterances of the

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Bible and also one of the most if misunderstood False ideas have grown up round it like a hedge of thorns hiding its real meaning from view and it's no small task cutting through this tangle of mental undergrowth

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But sadly many take the thought that God is love and then run with it forming all kinds of false thoughts about the nature of God and his way among the peoples of the earth

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The Bible states that God is love, but then the Bible also defines what God's love is like Scripture Does not merely say

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God is love and leave it to the individual to interpret subjectively what that means Many however have done this

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They suggest that because God is love that God is easily is needed easy to mollify towards sin and sinners when the

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Protestant Reformation broke out there was a Nobody could really understand how a holy

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God could forgive sinners The doctrine of justification this is how

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There's a real problem. How could God be just and forgive me? That's not a problem today.

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Well, obviously God will forgive you because he loves you There's no sense of justice or holiness

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It's gone God does not look upon sin as a great evil.

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It's thought to be punished with his eternal wrath It merely has an unfortunate malady that warrants sympathy and overlooking

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They Then take their shallow skewed concept of divine love and apply it as a means to Justify their behavior and to form and shape a

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Christianity that suits them again as John MacArthur wrote They envisioned God as a benign heavenly grandfather tolerant affable lenient permissive devoid of any real displeasure over sin who without Consideration of his holiness will benignly pass over sin and accept people as they are

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How often you hear that God will accept you just as you are No, he won't

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He'll accept you for Christ's sake and only for Christ's sake but this thinking is a perversion of the biblical notion of love love in the scriptures is

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Most frequently not always but most frequently set forth not primarily as a feeling of affection

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Which is experienced as it is a performance of action that God performs that's extremely important To love your enemies is not a reflection on how you feel about your enemies, but how you treat them

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To love your enemy is not to possess feelings of affection for him who has wronged you although sometimes the

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Lord will Give you grace to do so Rather to love your enemy describes how you are to behave toward him

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Regardless of your feelings. He's your enemy You love him anyway

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Well, I don't have feelings of affection or hit that doesn't matter You love him and he's not talking about having feelings of endearment toward him.

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But this is how you treat him Love is something you do not something you feel primarily and I don't even know if I said it my notes, but really in our passage the first command love your enemies and Then he he tells all the reasons or ways you'd love your enemies and then he concludes it by reasserting his his

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Command at the end. So I say do you love your enemies this whole passage is how you love your enemies

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Biblical love is active not passive Love is doing something more than it's feeling something

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That is why if you say I love God yet do not the things he says you yourself are deceiving yourself

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For this is love that we walk according to his commandments Loving God isn't principally how you feel about him

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Although we ought to have feelings for God Of Christ, but it's how you live you order your life according to his commandments

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That's what it is to love God And so we can say that you can have feelings of deep revulsion toward an enemy and you'll still love that enemy in the same

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Way that God has great indignation and wrath toward those who refuse to believe and submit to his son yet God still performs loving acts on their behalf

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For their benefit. God is a good God and So then practically speaking, how are we to love our enemies?

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And again the answer for us is in verses 27 B through 38 in which the

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Lord after Commanding his disciples to love their enemies sets out in clear detail how this is to be done

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Outlining the verses is difficult, but to aid our understanding I've broken it down some ways and first there are seven things you're to do

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This is this is what it is to love your enemy And so there are seven ways that our

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Lord set forth to his disciples And giving this instruction. He also tells them some things that were that they were not to do

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There's some things they were to do. There are some things they were not to do And so again, here are our Lord's words, but I say to you who hear love your enemies

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And then he tells them how this is done Do good to those who hate you Bless those who curse you

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Pray for those who spitefully use you turn to him who strikes you on the cheek offer him the other also

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From him who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either Give to everyone who asks of you and from him who takes away your goods

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Do not ask them back and just as you want men to do to you. You also do to them likewise

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That's how you love your enemies Not to gin up some kind of feelings of compassion or affection for them, although that may happen

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But this is how you were to act toward them and react to them So let's work through these first do good to those who hate you

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This is how you're to love your enemy You're to do good to those who hate you Admittedly this runs counter to our natural thinking as fallen people

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When we sense that people hate us we do not not naturally respond to them in this fashion

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No, we may not return evil for good. But on the other hand, we do not return good for evil, do we?

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That's not normal Actually, there are three possible responses to the one who is our enemy first there's what we may call our natural response

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This is the way Sinners respond the way the fallen world responds when someone hates us.

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We hate them back. I Once heard a

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Satanist on TV say when someone does something to me I see to it. He can't do it again

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The plot of many action movies is the villain is shown to be so evil that the hero is right in taking vengeance upon the villain

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That's the plot line of so many movies today action movies a

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Plot which is based on our Lord's words would probably not do well in the box office Do good to those who do evil to you a

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Second common response is what an ordinary Christian might do. How does he respond when somebody hates him?

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How do you respond when somebody hates you? Well, usually he does nothing Perhaps he dismisses the offender attempting to overlook that enemy to forget about him and We perhaps think we're spiritual when we don't retaliate

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But the third possible response is what our Lord set forth here When we're confronted by the enemy, what's the response of a true disciple do good to those who hate you?

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We generally fail in that we only go halfway we might not retaliate that is do what unbelievers do

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But we fail to do what disciples of Christ ought to be doing We are right in the middle, but being there we fail to be obedient to our

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Lord Perhaps this is why most of us do not see God working powerfully in our lives Why others about us may not see

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God working in our lives. There's nothing distinguishable about us The popular ministry

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Philosophy of today is help the church to become more like the world in every way so that we'll be attractive to them

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That's not how it works We're more attractive to people of the world as we're more distinct from them and distinguishable from them

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It's true that Christians are known by their actions, but they're better known by their reactions When things happen to Christians, they're not to respond like the people the world do

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Or not to be totally passive We're to do good to those who hate you

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We could have taken each one of these and spent a Sunday on them but You know because I think of Old Testament passages

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You know if some if your enemy loses his donkey and you happen to come across it out there on the road somewhere

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You're to get that donkey and take it back to that man. You're to do good to him It's consistent throughout all the scripture

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Secondly bless those who curse you Again, we can contrast the Lord's command with the common way in which fallen people of the world respond and react to those who curse

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Them the natural or normal response of the of the world is you curse them back

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Get into a shouting match But this is not how our Lord would have his kingdom citizens live

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Now the ordinary Christian response would simply be to remain silent take it patiently

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Try and ignore it But the response of the true disciple of Christ if he's thinking rightly and living rightly

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He's to bless that one that is to speak kindly to him and treat him mercifully

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This is unusual You do this and you're gonna stand out The Christian is to express a desire for the one cursing him to receive and experience the goodness of God toward him

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The Third way in which the Christian is to love his enemies is set forth next Jesus said pray for those who mistreat you

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We might again cite the natural response of one who was in the fallen world the reaction of a worldling to those who mistreat them

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Is to get even Or sue them They'll do it The ordinary

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Christian might respond by simply ignoring them or avoiding them But the response of a true disciple is to pray for them

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To make them the subjects of your petitions before God How often do we do that?

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When we pray to the Lord Those who have mistreated you do you pray for them much or often?

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God often draws people to himself through conflicts God bids one to abuse us

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Our response to that abuse should be a vivid demonstration of the reality of God in our lives God then uses our loving action toward that enemy to draw him unto himself

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You see there's something different this man this woman It's strange how he

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Responded to me. He tells me he's gonna pray for me Maybe someone maybe

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God has bidden someone to abuse you so that he God might win that one through your godly response to him.

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I See this commonly As a as the way God works in the world

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And often over the years, you know when somebody has really become hostile to me and it happens You know,

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I see that perhaps he or she is a prospect for the kingdom and the Lord wants me to you know to To be the instrument that God uses to draw that one to Christ And so the conflict is an opportunity

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For to him who strikes you on the cheek offer the other also Our Lord may here have been alluding to the action of synagogue leaders formally putting his disciples out of the synagogues the commentator

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Darrell Bach wrote Probably given the context of religious persecution The slap refers to exclusion from the synagogue such a slap would be delivered with the back of the hand

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Though the context here suggests any action that communicates rejection Jesus's point is that even in the midst of rejection

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We continue to minister to others and expose ourselves to the threat of their rejection

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The ministry of Paul among the Jews and acts is a clear example of such love Love is available and vulnerable and subject to repeated abuse

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Remember when Paul was converted, you know, Paul had been an abuser of Christians, wasn't he? And it was said to you know when

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Ananias was told to go restore the site to Paul Lord I've heard much about this man.

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He's going around You know capturing murdering your people You go to him.

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I'll show him what great things he must suffer for my name's sake It was through the suffering that the

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Apostle Paul experienced that the kingdom was advanced This is the way the Lord works in his world

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Essentially our Lord would say do not retaliate but rather be willing to suffer We might again contrast the course of loving action toward an enemy in Contrast to how the disciples of Christ are to react the natural response of the people in the world is this

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If someone strikes me on the cheek, I'm going to turn his cheek It is retaliate

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The ordinary Christian may be tempted also toward this retaliatory action But he would probably just turn and walk away making sure that person would not be able to continue to harm or humiliate him

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But the response of a true disciples is obeying our Lord's instruction is to offer the other cheek after having been struck in other words the one rejected or humiliated was not to take offense but in patience be willing to suffer abuse and Rejection in order to bear faithful witness to his enemy.

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This is what it is to love your enemy J. C. Ryle expressed caution of taking some of these matters to a literal extreme

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Which would be beyond what our Lord was intended to teach He wrote on the one hand.

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Our Lord did not mean to forbid the repression of crime Or declare the office of the magistrate policeman

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Unlawful that seems to be the attitude among a lot of district attorneys today throughout the land, isn't it?

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Well, would you turn the other cheek let this guy off and then he goes on and commit horrendous crimes nor yet did

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Jesus mean to pronounce all war unlawful or to brave at the punishment of evildoers and Disturbance of the peace in order of society.

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We find him saying in one place. He that hath no sword Let him sell his garment and buy one We find st.

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Paul say to the magistrate. He is the minister of God Policeman a Revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil and we find several centurions mentioned in the gospel of Acts But we never find their occupation as soldiers condemned as unlawful

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On the other hand, it's evident. Our Lord condemns everything like a revengeful pugnacious Litigious or quarrelsome spirit he forbids everything like dueling or fighting between individuals

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For the settlement of private wrongs Enjoyed forbearance patience long -suffering under injuries and insults

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He would have us concede much submit to much put up with much rather than cause strife

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He would have us endure much inconvenience and loss even sacrifice some of our just rights rather than have any contention

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It's the same lesson that st Paul enforces in other words if it be possible as much life in you live peaceably with all men

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Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place to wrath for as written vengeance is mine I order pace at the

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Lord be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good This is what it is to love your enemies

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Fifth from him who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic also The common or natural response would be to become angry and bitter when something is unjustly taken from us happens all the time

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The ordinary Christian response however would make an effort to forget what happened and avoid becoming bitter

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Some people have a keen sense of justice and they get really offended when they perceive injustice

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You got to live it leave it to the Lord. He's kind of he's the judge. He'll deal with everything and Justly not one sin that takes place in history is going to escape just dealings by God Every sin on the

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Day of Judgment or in this life there are consequences Except for the sins of Christians God's justice was satisfied on the cross

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Thank God when Jesus died on our behalf The Christian throughout must be prepared to be prepared to deny himself to the utmost and place his own interests completely in the background as one wrote

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The Christian knows he'll be no loser if and when he loses anything when he has a clear conscience before God Let it go

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Six give to everyone who asks of you and from him who takes away your goods Do not ask them back the idea our

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Lord was conveyed to his disciples was that you should not limit their generosity When someone takes something from them

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Again the common and natural response would either Resent or demand back what you've given in the past the ordinary

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Christian response would stop giving to that person But the Christian response the response of an obedient disciple of Christ would be not to stop giving

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I Wish we had time

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I could tell you a story About my neighbor and how that's played out in the last three years.

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I Am gonna say it. I Sold him Mary's car. It wasn't a great car, but it was a running car for $1 ,500

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He paid me $100 and that was the last I saw of it And so every time

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I've seen him in the last five years, he's been hiding or apologetic But last summer he started coming over every month and giving me a hundred bucks

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He'll only owes us $400 now and you know, I've tried to treat him with with kindness and as a good neighbor throughout all this and and I'm hoping to be a good witness to him through all this.

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What's the difference of a car? You know a car is nothing, you know, the Lord will fix it all, you know

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But you could get really embittered about things like that when you've been treated unjustly The Lord's in control of everything that's happening to us and he's got a purpose in it

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And I'm getting paid back Grateful for that Bought a few lunches wonderful Just as you want men to do to you you also do to them likewise and so the

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Lord concludes here with the golden rule The way you treat other deal with others is the way you would want them to treat you

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Norval gel denies a commentator wrote a summary of our Lord's instruction in this sermon on the plane

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They must wish his people must wish and pray for blessings on those who cursed and insult them

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Even if such persons treat them unjustly commit acts of violence against them No revenge should be taken but an attitude perfect love should be maintained

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Enmity on the part of others must always stimulate us to greater manifestations of love

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Naturally, the Lord does not enjoin a weak and sentimental attitude towards evildoers He teaches that hatred should never be repaid with hatred, but with true unselfish love again

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How you respond and act react and genuine love under the guidance of Christ will always do what is best for the enemy

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That's a good statement Well after we have these seven Very clear instructions on how to love your enemies three questions are posed designed to move us toward this course of action verses 32 to 34

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But if you love those who love you What credit is that to you for even sinners love those who love them?

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first question and answer and If you do good to those who do good to you What credit is that to you for even sinners do the same and if you lend to those for from whom you hope to receive back?

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What credit is that to you for even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back? We just run through these quickly because of the time

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If you only love them who love you you're doing no better than the unbeliever For unbelievers generally only show acts of love to those who love them or will render appreciation for their actions

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But we're called to higher ideals Our loving action is not to be manifested only to those who agree with us behave like us walk with us

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We love others including those who have no love for us because it's the right thing to do before God And secondly if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that?

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It's a rhetorical question saying no credit none Even sinners do the same

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And third if you lend to those for whom you hope to receive back what credit is that to you even sinners do that Sometimes you might hear some

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Christians say the only difference between a true Christian and Non -christian is that one is forgiven of his sins and the other is not that is a falsehood

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There is a great difference between the way the Christian thinks and the non -christian thinks and lives

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Everything Jesus taught in this sermon is a call for his disciples to live on a different and higher plane than those in the fallen world

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We're kingdom citizens Well, then two further reasons are designed to move us toward this course of action

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Jesus said love your enemies now there. There is the second command. He opened love your enemies

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He explained all the reasons how you love your enemies and now he's bringing it all the way back around and he reaffirms

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His first command but love your enemies do good lend hoping for nothing in return.

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Your reward will be great and You will be sons of the Most High For he is kind to the unthankful and evil and therefore be merciful as your father also is merciful first the reason we should be living in this manner is because of the great blessing that will be granted us and That we will enjoy an eternity when the

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Lord returns There are actually two reasons given to motivate us to live in this way first Your reward will be great and you will be sons of the

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Most High Jesus promises that those who live in this manner will one day receive great reward your reward will be great

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What kind of reward I don't know You'll hear some people emphasize there's five different kinds of crowns in the

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New Testament And we're all going to be given one or more of those five crowns. That's really not a right interpretation the crown of life

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It's a it's a it's a metaphor metonymy. The crown is life itself

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Eternal life and so it's not speaking about Rewards of Christians as much as it's saying that That everyone will be awarded that crown of life who loved the

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Lord at his coming What kind of reward well the fact is there will be degrees of glory bestowed upon the people of God when he returns

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We can cite Daniel 12 2 or 3 I forget which verse They that are wise shall shine

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The glory will shine that is the brightness of the firmament that the sky outside Those who turn many to righteousness will shine as the stars forever and ever

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There are degrees of glory and eternity each one of us will be awarded rewarded according to our stewardship on Your abilities that God has given you the opportunities

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God has given to you and how faithful you've been as stewards in this life

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It's a good motivation Your reward will be great, and you will be the sons of the

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Most High in other words You're gonna be like him because this is how the father is Now as believers were now the children of God, but here we see a future realization

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There will be a day when we will yet receive our adoption as sons When the glory which comes with our sonship will be revealed and it will be realized fully when our

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Lord raises us from the dead And we're brought into a presence and we look forward to that day And we'll be assured that in loving our enemies as we have been shown in this passage

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We can be assured that we will be the sons of the Most High It's an affirmation of what

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God gives us in grace and The second reason to move us toward this course of action is that your father himself

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Deals with his enemies in this fashion love your enemy do good Lynn Hoping for nothing in return your reward will be great.

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You'll be sons of the Most High for he God is kind To the unthankful or ungrateful and evil and therefore be merciful just as your father also is merciful

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We are attempt to be like our God and Then lastly on the last page or second last page page 10.

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There are two attitudes That are condemned a judgmental and a condemning spirit

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Verse 37 judge not you shall not be judged condemn. Not you shall not be condemned forgive and you will be forgiven

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These attitudes Judgmental a condemning spirit are totally incompatible with the

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Christian life It's important. We understand what this means Sadly there are many

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Christians today that are silent When they should speak up about moral and theological issues because they mistakenly think to speak vehemently about an issue is itself intolerant judgmental mean -spirited and unloving

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But if that were the case and all the prophets of the Old Testament the New Testament Apostles All faithful preachers through history would be condemned

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Paul of course spoke out we're to expose the works of darkness

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Not to tolerate them. We're to reprove rebuke with all long -suffering and patience

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We're told to make judgments about wrong behavior within churches take strong decisive action

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So when it says judge not it's talking about a censorious spirit, of course Somebody's always, you know judging others in order to justify themselves or to put somebody down When we are judging we're basically pronouncing what

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God declares in his word about a matter It's not me personally condemning somebody

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But rather we're announcing this is what God's Word says about that This is what's going to happen to you unless you amend your ways

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I'm not being judged. I'm just Announcing what's going to happen to you according to God's Word.

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I'm just burying the news As it's been commonly said over the years, you know a

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Preacher or a Christian is simply a fellow beggar showing another bigger where to buy bread or find bread and So we speak openly and clearly and forthrightly about right and wrong truth and error good and evil it's because we we have a

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General desire for people's benefit. We want to see what's best for them everyone

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Well after the judgmental spirit condemning spirit, there are some people that this is just how they their worldview they're always measuring and Marginalizing people are dismissing discrediting people because they don't meet their standard

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That's not right Avoid that and then two activities are commended forgiving and giving forgive and you will be forgiven and Then give and it will be given to you good measure pressed down shaking together running over will be put into your bosom the old

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Adage you can't out give God is a truism We were to be a forgiving people a true disciple of Christ is a merciful forgiving person

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If you refuse to forgive God will not forgive you Well, that's a legalism somebody will accuse you falsely no, that's biblical

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That's what God says a true Christian will be a forgiving Christian Sometimes we react and fail refuse for a while, but the

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Lord will bring us around To right -thinking we realize if I don't forgive him, how can

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I expect God to forgive me? and Then we're to be a giving people as well

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When we read these words we might think primarily in terms of financial giving but it's really true in all aspects of life

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You reap what you sow You want God to be merciful to you show mercy to others

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You lack friends Be a friend to somebody You reap what you sow

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You lack funds give you truly cannot out give God when you give to the poor

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God regards it as giving it on to him and there he is no debtor to anyone This is the way of kingdom living kingdom citizens

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Those who are generous and give to him or to people in need

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They receive abundantly from God's hand and it's a wonderful blessing

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When that is that it's seen it takes away financial burdens and fears and worries

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Because you know, the Lord's going to promise to provide for you. He said he would Of how much more value are you?

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Then than animals and he cares for animals. He's gonna care for you if you're his disciple

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And so he he takes away the fear and the worries and whatnot, but it's so important It it hinges on this matter

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You know, are we loving in? The manner that we treat people and regard people not how you necessarily feel about them

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You can have some real problems with some people. I mean we all have enemies in some form or another don't we and And but that doesn't change on how we are to treat them

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We're to treat them as God treats people and he's very gracious and very merciful and very kind Even to those who are his enemies and we should be like him.

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Amen Let's pray Father. Thank you for your word. Help us our

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God. We're in need of great grace Not only to be instructed in these matters, but enabled our

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God to be obedient And so our Lord when these issues arise within our lives as they most certainly do have done are doing will do

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Help us to be responsive our God as disciples of Jesus Christ Help us our

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God Enable us to love our enemies as our Lord Jesus said before us and we'll thank you our

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God for your wonderful work of grace As we become your instruments in furthering your cause