Loving Your Enemy

Father, we thank you, Lord, for today. And we are grateful for your Word, and we are grateful for the fact that you have brought us together this evening. We're grateful, Lord, that your Word speaks truth.

And when we are committed to the authority of your Word, it ends all debate, because you have the final Word on everything. And so we thank you that we can study your Word. We can get to know you because of your Word, and that, Lord, through knowing you, we will love you all the more and serve you all the more.

Tonight, Lord, help us to see the beauty of your character. Help us to see, Lord, what it is you want us to do as your children, that we might honor you with all that we have for your glory. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Take your Bible and turn with me, if you would, to the fifth chapter of Matthew, Matthew chapter 5. And as you're turning, I'm going to ask you a question, okay? Very simple question, and you can answer it in your head, okay? The question is this, how would you be able to tell the true spirituality of any individual? How would you be able to tell the true and genuine spirituality of any individual? That question is very, very important, because if you want to know the character of someone, if you want to know who that person really is, then the best way is not because you've seen them in the comfort and the coziness of their homes, but you've seen them in the combat and conflict of everyday life. Put a man or woman in a crisis, put them in a situation where their world unravels, how they respond is who they are.

The person you see when things are well is not the real person. But when they're persecuted, when they're hated, when they're despised, when they're rejected, when they're attacked, how they respond will tell you all you need to know about the genuineness of their spirituality. Tonight, that's the topic.

Tonight, that's where Christ takes us. Tonight, we're going to read and study what God says about that person and how they respond. Matthew chapter 5, let me read it for you.

Verse 43, you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven. For he causes his son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore, you are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.

This section that Christ gives us is what we'll call the apex of their anxiety, the apex of their angst. As they sit on the North Shore of the Sea of Galilee and they're listening to the words of Jesus, he's made it very clear that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you'll never be a part of the kingdom of heaven.

He says their righteousness is all external. My righteousness is all internal. The righteousness that I give you affects the heart.

The righteousness of the Pharisees and Scribes is all about their actions. That's why Jesus gives these illustrations. He gives a statement about your righteousness exceeding that of the Scribes and Pharisees, and they were shocked by that because these are the religious people of the day.

These are the ones that everybody sees as holy, spiritual, followers of God, right? And Christ comes and says something to the contrary. And then he gives them six illustrations. He first of all talks about murder, and they would all agree that they should not murder anyone, and they would all agree that they didn't murder anyone.

But Christ says, if you have anger in your heart, you're a murderer. He goes to the internal aspect of an individual. And then he says, you're not to commit adultery.

And they would all say, absolutely. We don't sleep around with other men's wives. We don't do that.

So Christ says, but I say unto you, if you look at a woman and lust for her, you've already committed adultery with her in your heart. You see, they would say, well, I don't commit adultery. I don't murder anyone. I must be righteous. And Christ says, no, it's all about the inside. What's going on with the inner man?

You will say, well, we can divorce our wives for any cause because Moses gave us the right to do that. And Christ says, no, except for the cause of fornication, you can't divorce anybody, or you're just going to proliferate all kinds of adultery everywhere. And then he would tell them about the fact that they needed to be those who spoke the truth, not just because you gave an external oath, but because your heart is speaking that which is true.

And then, of course, you can't retaliate, can't seek revenge. Ah, you've heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Ah, but I say to you, things are completely different. In my kingdom, you don't seek to retaliate.

You don't seek to enact vengeance on someone else. That's the way it is in my kingdom. And they're reeling from this. It's one blow after another, and the people have never heard anything like this.

And then all of a sudden, he says, you've heard that it was said, you should love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But again, I will say unto you, you need to love your enemies.

You need to pray for those who persecute you. And by now, their thought life is off the rails. Their anxiety is off the charts.

It's like, you've got to be kidding me. We read this and think to ourselves, I'm not so sure I can love my enemy. Do you have any enemies? If you live godly in Christ Jesus, you will suffer persecution.

But who are your enemies? Can you picture your enemy in your mind? Better yet, is your enemy sitting next to you? Is your enemy in the room? Is your enemy at the office when you go to work tomorrow? Is your enemy in your classroom at school? Christ says, the people of my kingdom, they love their enemies. Out of all the illustrations, this one would affect their view of righteous living more so than anything else.

So we'll look, as we have the last five times we've been together, and that is, we'll look at the rabbinical tradition, because there, love was destroyed. And then we'll look at the biblical teaching, because that's how love is described. And then we'll look at the practical transformation, because that's how this kind of love is developed.

First of all, the rabbinical tradition, it's under two headings, one an omission, the other an addition.

Christ says, you have been told, this is how you've been taught, this is how you've been raised, from the very earliest forms of life, you've been raised in a tradition that says you are to love your neighbor and hate your enemy. What's the problem with that? By reading it on the outside, it looks fine, except there was an omission. What was the omission? It was love your neighbor as you love yourself.

But you see, they couldn't say that, because they really didn't love others like they love themselves. I mean, after all, no man ever hated his own flesh, right? We nurture and cherish our own flesh according to Ephesians chapter five. We also know that Paul says in 2 Timothy 3, verse number 1, that in the end times, during the days toward the last, men will be lovers of themselves rather than lovers of God.

And nobody epitomized lovers of themselves more so than the Pharisees. So they would develop an oral tradition that says you are to love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But there was an omission, because if you omit loving your neighbor as you love yourself, you can dilute how you love others, right? If I can love my neighbor, but have no qualifier that says, love my neighbor as I love myself, if I just say, love my neighbor, then I don't have to be as sacrificial.

I don't have to be as kind as I need to be, because I'm not measuring that standard against myself. And so I can dilute how it is I love others. But yet the Bible says in Luke 19:18, quoted seven times in the New Testament, love your neighbor as you love yourself.

They omitted that. They were better at critiquing others. They were better at, they would rather downplay others.

For example, in Luke chapter 18, when the Pharisees would say, I thank you, God, that I'm not like this swindler or this unjust person. I thank you, Lord, that I'm not an adulterer. I thank you, Lord, that I'm not like the tax collector.

They would say stuff like that. We tend to say that too. We would say, well, I'm just thankful, Lord, that I'm not a murderer.

I'm grateful that I'm not a drunkard or an alcoholic. I'm just grateful that I'm just not the kind of person that injures others. And we think ourselves good because we're not like other people.

That was the Pharisees. And Christ is interested in the heart. You see, he wants them to understand what true love really is.

You see, he attacks the attitude. They were looking at the act, but Christ says, I'm interested in the attitude. What is the heart really like?

Now, the Pharisees should have known Proverbs 25:21, which says, if your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. Verse 22 says, in that case, you will receive a reward from the Lord. But instead, the Pharisees would say, love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

The problem is God never said to hate your enemy. You can't find that anywhere in the Old Testament. God never said that.

So here they are omitting something and then adding something. Remember in Deuteronomy 4, Moses said that you're not to add or take away from the commandments that God has given you. Proverbs chapter 30 says the same thing. Revelation 22, the same thing. You can't add to what God says. You can't take away from what God says.

But that's exactly what the Pharisees did. They would take away what God said, love your neighbor as you love yourself. They would take that part away, but they would add, love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

And God never said to hate your enemy. And some would say, well, wait a minute. Didn't God tell Israel to wipe out the Midianites, to destroy the Amalekites, to wipe off the face of the earth the Moabites? Yeah. God did say that. Why? If you're not to hate your enemy, why would God have Israel do that?

God is speaking specifically here of the personal nature, not the judicial nature. God would use Israel to destroy Israel's enemies because if they didn't, they would become corrupt.

And there could be the fact that they would destroy Israel because they were a smaller nation than all the other nations. And therefore, if the nation was destroyed, the Messiah wouldn't come. So God says, you're going to enact my arm of vengeance against your enemies, and you're going to destroy them.

But just because that was a judicial act laid down by God, it didn't mean that that's how they would act personally. In fact, if you were to go back and you were to read Exodus 23 verses 4 and 5, God says that people, the Israelites, were committed to show favor to their enemies. David even said in Psalm 7, verses 4 and 5 that he knew it was wrong to do evil against his enemies.

And yet they would omit the fact that they were to love others as they love themselves. And they would add this fact, but you can hate your enemy. We kind of like that.

That plays into our sinful nature. Nobody wants to love their enemy. Nobody wants to be kind to their enemy.

But God says, the people in my kingdom, this is how they live their lives. They truly love the enemy. And so they would omit what God had said and add to what God said.

On the heels of that, let me read to you Psalm 139. Listen to what David says.

Verse 19. Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God. Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. For they speak against you wickedly. For your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with the utmost hatred. They have become my enemies.

Now wait a minute. Here is David, the king of Israel, saying he hates his enemies. And yet God says you are to love your enemies, not hate your enemies.

Ah, but the reason David could say that is because there was a righteous indignation against those who hated his God. This is not a personal vengeance on the part of David. You can read all throughout 1 and 2 Samuel how David didn't enact personal vengeance against anyone.

Because that's what made him a man after God's own heart. He was a man that was constantly repenting and never seeking revenge against his enemies. So from a personal standpoint, he didn't do that. But from a judicial and national standpoint, he would be against those who came against God.

Because listen to what he says in the next verse. He says, search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there be any hurtful way in me.

In other words, Lord, I don't want this to be about me. I don't want I don't want you to see something in me that would be damaging to the enemies of God.

This is a personal thing. Search my heart. Try me. See if there be any wicked way in me and then lead me in the everlasting way. That was the cry of David.

Oh yes, he would come against those who hated his God. He would come against the enemies of God for God's sake, not for his own personal sake. That's why he said, search me. Try me. See what's on the inside of me and lead me in the way of righteousness.

So Christ comes along. He says to the people on the hillside, Pharisees were there. His disciples were there. All kinds of people from the nation were there. Thousands of people all around.

And he would say one more time, you have heard from the rabbis. You have heard from the ancients of old. This has been something that's been passed down from generation to generation.

Love your neighbor. Hate your enemy. Ah, but I say unto you, love your enemies.

Pray for those who persecute you. So that leads us into the biblical teaching. And five things I want you to see about love.

First of all, love is important. It's the highest of all virtues. First Corinthians chapter 13 tells us that.

The greatest of all virtues is love. So love is extremely important. Christ says, but I say unto you, he speaks with authority.

You've heard this, but I'm going to tell you something completely contrary about what it means to love. You need to understand what I'm going to tell you. That the most important virtue there is, is love.

And you need to understand this. In fact, remember the words over in 1 Corinthians, I'm sorry, not 1 Corinthians, but Matthew, or excuse me, Mark chapter 12. It says in verse number 28, this was the last public question asked of Jesus during passion week.

In fact, it was the last public question asked of Jesus during his earthly ministry. Verse 28, one of the scribes came and heard them arguing and recognizing that he had answered them asked him, what commandment is the foremost of all? What is the top commandment?

Jesus answered, the foremost is, hear o Israel, the Lord, our God is one Lord. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. It's one commandment.

Loving God and loving others cannot be divided. If you love God, you love others. If you don't love God, you can't love others, but you cannot divide them.

And so what Christ does is he takes them back to the decalogue because the 10 commandments are summed up by the phrase, you shall fulfill the law of God by loving one another and by loving God. The first four commandments dealt with your relationship with God and loving him. The next six deal with your relationship with others and loving them.

And so love is the fulfillment of the entire law, Romans 13:10 tells us. So in verse 29, the scribe said to him, right teacher, you have truly stated that he is one and there is no one else besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and to love one's neighbor as himself is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.

When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. What's it mean to be not far from the kingdom of God? You can have all the head knowledge about what the commandments say, but remember, I am the way, the truth, and the life. You're standing right next to the king of the kingdom.

I am the door by which you get into the kingdom, John 10. You're standing at the doorstep of the door of the one who gets you into the kingdom. You're not far from the kingdom.

The only thing left is to enter the door, to follow the Lord, to follow the one you say you are to love. Do you love me enough to follow me? That's the question. And then it says, after that, no one would venture to ask him any more questions because there is no other question.

That's the ultimate question. The foremost commandment is to love God and to love your neighbor. So Christ comes to Matthew chapter 5 and says something extraordinary.

God's love demands that his people love in such a way that it even embraces your enemy. This becomes the most powerful teaching in scripture concerning the meaning of love. What Christ says here is the most powerful statement in scripture describing the meaning of love.

Christ sets the standard. So we would all agree that love is important. But the next point is that love is impossible.

It's important, but it's impossible. For he says, you've heard that I was said, but I say to you, love your enemies. Love your enemies.

He doesn't say, I want you to love everybody. That's too vague. It's not specific.

And the Lord is very specific, very precise with his words. He could have said, just love everybody. Oh, okay. Whatever. No, he says, love your enemy. Love the one that's against you. Love the one who despises you. Love the one who wants to destroy you. Love the one who enacts vengeance upon you.

Love the one who slanders you. Love the one who speaks against you. Love the one who wants to persecute you.

In fact, he's already talked about that earlier in Matthew chapter 5, when he says in verse number 10, blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. When people speak against you because of me, because of your stand for me, because of your relationship with me, and they insult you and they persecute you, you're blessed.

Why? Because so too do they persecute those who came before you, those prophets who came before you. You're in great company and great is your reward. So greatly rejoice.

So Christ now says, love, love for your enemy is impossible. Why? Because the human tendency is to love your friends. The human tendency is to love the people that you're attracted to, the people that look nice, the people that smell nice, the people that don't bug you, the people that are kind to you.

You're going to love those kinds of people. They're easy to love. And Christ knows that.

And so he says, love your enemies because true love is always need oriented. True love is always helpful to those who are in trouble. And there's nobody in greater trouble than your enemy because he needs to know the Lord.

And so true love is truly need oriented. Oriented. For example, you know this parable, Luke chapter 10.

It says in verse 25, a lawyer stood up and put Christ to the test. Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, what is written in the law? How do you read it? He answered, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself. And Christ said to him, you have answered correctly.

Do this and you will live. But he can't because love is impossible. You can't love God with the intimacy and the intensity, with all the totality that's possible because you just can't love him that way unless you know him.

And if you don't know him, you can't love your neighbor as you love yourself. But the man says, wishing to justify himself, said, well, who is my neighbor? If my neighbor is someone who's nice to me, if my neighbor is my brother, if my neighbor is my next-door neighbor that I get along with, if my neighbor is someone that is kind to me, well, then yes, I love my neighbor as I love myself. But who is my neighbor? That's the question.

So Jesus replied, a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell amongst some robbers. They stripped him and beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. And by chance, a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

The priest was on the road with the man who was beaten, bloodied and bruised, but he would not stop. Likewise, Levi also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. Here was a man who was in need.

Here was a man who needed help. And love is need-oriented. Love always helps the person and the object that needs help.

And so the religious man, the priest, and the Levite, they passed by on the other side. And then he says, but a Samaritan, a half-breed, Jews who had intermarried with the pagans, and the Jews hated half-breeds. They hated the Samaritans, but a Samaritan who was on a journey came upon him, and when he saw him, he felt compassion and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them, and he put him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him.

On the next day, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, take care of him, and whatever more you spend, when I return, I will repay you. Verse 36, which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robber's hands?

He said, the one who showed mercy toward him. He could have said the Samaritan, but he wouldn't mention a Samaritan's name. He said the one who showed mercy to him, and Jesus says these words, go and do the same.

The answer to the question, who is my neighbor, is simple. Who isn't your neighbor? Anybody in need is your neighbor.

So when you love your neighbor as yourself, and no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it, then whoever is in need is your neighbor, and they need to be nourished and cherished like you would yourself. But now he says, love your enemies. Nourish and cherish your enemies like you would yourself, because your enemy is your neighbor, and your neighbor is in need, and your neighbor needs help.

Love is impossible. Nobody in their natural condition will ever do that. Nobody wants to do that. Nobody wants to involve themselves to that capacity.

Love is impossible. 1 Corinthians 13, 15 characteristics of love are in the verb form.

All action, because love is always active. Love is never passive. Love is always active.

Love is always on the go. Love is always taking the initiative. Love never sits back and waits.

Love just advances. It's active. That's what love is.

And one of the qualities that Christ says in 1 Corinthians 13, under the pen of the Apostle Paul, is love never seeks its own. What a statement. Its own what? Its own welfare.

Love never seeks its own welfare. Love never acts on behalf of itself. Love always acts on behalf of the person in need.

If you love someone for your own sake, that's called manipulation. That's coercing people to respond back to you. Love never seeks its own welfare.

Love never acts in such a way that it looks for a response. Because once you act in a way that you're looking for a response, you've done something to manipulate the person you say you love. You're trying to get them to do something back for you.

But love never seeks its own. So if you really want to love someone, it's a total giving of yourself away without ever expecting anything in return. You want a great marriage? Love like that.

You want a great marriage? That's how you love. Because you see, loving your enemy is what this is all about. Because that is impossible.

Nobody by nature wants to do this. Christ says, by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another. What kind of love? Now Christ says this to men who cannot respond back to him.

He speaks to men who are arrogant. He speaks to men who are critical of his leadership, critical of his teaching. He speaks to men who are jealous.

And he tells them a new commandment I give to you. We talked about this on Sunday. That you love one another as I have loved you.

Loving one another as you love yourself is no longer good enough because it's tainted with sin. So now you have to love as I have loved you because I have no sin. And what I do is never tainted with sin.

So that's how you love without ever seeking your own benefit. You love as I have loved you. That's the new commandment.

And by this shall all men know that you're mine. Listen, if we were to act toward one another without ever expecting anything back, any response, any thank you, any admiration, any gifts in return, if we were to act that way in the church, all men would know that we're Christ's. Because we love like he does.

You see, that's impossible. We just don't do that. Because our lives are tainted with sin.

And we do what we do because we want a response. We want someone to respond to us. We want somebody to give back to us.

We just can't help but manipulate people to respond. Christ says, love your enemies because they're not going to respond. Love them.

Because love is impossible. Love is important. And then he says this, love is impractical.

It's impractical. Pray for those who persecute you. What? Why would I do that? I want God's vengeance upon them.

Why would I pray for my persecutors? Because they need to know the Lord. You're being persecuted for righteousness' sake anyway. Well, that means they're not righteous.

That means they need to know the Lord. You're not praying for them or you're not loving them because of what they've done. You're loving them and praying for them because of who they are.

They're people made in the image of God. People that are fallen in their sinful state. People who are in need of a Savior.

People who are in need of eternity with Christ. Eternity weighs into balance. So you pray for your persecutors because they need to know the Lord.

Listen to what Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, who suffered under the hands of the Nazis as a pastor and was eventually killed by those in Germany. He said, in Matthew 5:44 this is the supreme demand. Through the medium of prayer we go to our enemy, stand by his side and plead for him to God.

That's loving your enemies. It's the most impractical thing there is. That's what Jesus did. On the cross. Father forgive them for they know not what they're doing. He prays for his enemies.

Stephen, the first martyr, being stoned. And stoning was a magnificent thing because you didn't take little pebbles and just kind of toss them at the guy. You know what I'm saying? That would never kill anybody.

Right? It might be a little irritating, but just tossing pebbles at somebody doesn't help them. We're talking boulders and you're down in the crevice and people are taking these huge boulders and they're just wailing them on you. And there's no place to go because everywhere there's a boulder coming down on your face.

And what did Stephen do? He lifted up his highs into heaven and said, Oh Lord, hold not this charge to their account. He prayed for his persecutors. I wonder if you do that.

I wonder if you love your enemies enough to pray for them. It's so impractical. But why would you do this? Look what Jesus says.

Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you so that you may prove yourself to be sons of your father. This is the validity of the true spirituality of a person.

So when I ask you, how do you measure the spirituality of an individual? This is it. See? Because he says, so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven. For he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good that sends their rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

You want to prove yourself to be a son of God? Want to prove yourself to be a child of the king? This is what you do. And although it's so impractical, so impossible, yet very, very important. Know this, that love is impartial.

Love is impartial. Christ says it this way. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good.

He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. That's called common grace. That's called common love.

God is a lover of his enemies. God is a lover of his persecutors. God is a lover of all men.

And so he grants them common grace. He grants them common love. He allows the sun to shine on the good guys and the bad guys. The rain to fall on the good guys and the bad guys. The saints and the ain’ts. They all receive the same sun. They all receive the same rain because God's a good God. He's a gracious God. He's a loving God.

He's an impartial God. And all love is impartial. In other words, you love all men, not just some men.

That means you're indiscriminate in your benevolence. You're not benevolent to these people because of what they've done for you, but not benevolent towards these people because what they haven't done for you. Oh no, you're indiscriminate in how you show a common grace and common love to all men.

You don't divvy it up and be more partial toward some than others. Because love is always impartial, even though it's impractical, even though it's impossible. Because love is the only thing that's important.

And then he says this, love is impressive. It's impressive. This is so good.

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? So you love somebody who loves you. What's so great about that? Who cares? He says these words do not even the tax collectors do the same. They despise tax collectors because they had betrayed their own nation and started with Rome.

If you love those who love you, no big deal. Then he says this, he says, if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles, the pagans do the same. He picks two categories of people, two categories that every Jew would hate, a tax gatherer, collector, and a Gentile.

He says, if you love those who love you, that's just nothing. Nothing. If you're the kind of person that only greets your brother, that's no big deal.

But see, we want to pat ourselves on the back because we are kind to those who are kind to us. But, are you kind to those who are unkind to you? Are you loving toward those who are your persecutors, who despise you, who hate you?

See, that's why love is impressive. It's impressive because it reaches out to the ones who despise you. It's kind to those who are unkind to you. It's generous to those who are not generous with you. Why? Because you're not seeking your own welfare anyway.

It's not about you. It's about the Lord and His love for fellow man. And you want to show yourself a son of your father in heaven.

And so love is really impressive when you don't greet your brother because he greets you. And you don't love those who love you, but you love those who hate you, and you greet those who despise you. That's impressive.

It was said, well, in a minute, I'll get there. What's your practical transformation? How was love developed? I'll give you three points.

One, follow your father's example.

Verse 48, Christ says these words, therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. Follow your father's example. The example of perfection, completion, maturity.

Follow the example of your father. Be holy as he is holy. Be perfect as he is perfect because that's the standard.

Your fellow man is not your standard. Those who compare themselves among themselves, Paul says in Corinthians, are not wise people. Never compare yourself by yourselves.

That's just the most unwise thing you can ever do because you're always going to find somebody lower than you and you're always going to find somebody higher than you. But never compare yourself by yourself or by others because that's so unwise. You compare yourself to God.

You compare yourself to his standard. It's his standard that matters. Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.

And this is how he closes out the illustrations, the six of them, because men can't do that. And the people on the hillside are thinking that's impossible. God is holy. He's perfect. He's sinless. How can I be as perfect as my heavenly father is perfect?

You've raised the standard so high. We've tried to lower the standard to attain the standard. And you've demolished that and raised the standard back to the level it was in the Old Testament. And we can't do that.

That's impossible. Christ says, yeah, I know. That's the way it's supposed to be. That's why you need me. See, you can't live to the standard. You can't do what I ask you to do.

So you cry out for mercy. You cry out for forgiveness. You say, oh, Lord, be merciful unto me, a sinner.

I can't do that. And the Lord says, you're right, you can't, but because of me, you can. And I will allow you to do that.

That's what number two is about. Function under your father's enablement. Function under your father's enablement.

You can follow your father's example because you function under your father's enablement. He says, look, I will grant you my spirit. 2 Timothy 1:7 it’s called the spirit of love. Love, power, and self-discipline. I'll grant you my spirit. The fruit of the spirit is love, right? Romans 5:5, the love of God is shed abroad in your heart.

The only way you can love your enemies is if you know me. And I enable you to accomplish that. You need to come to me.

If you come to me, this can happen. If you don't come to me, it will never happen. It will never be accomplished in your life.

Follow your father's example and then function under your father's enablement.

Alfred Plummer, in his commentary on Matthew, states this, to return evil for good is devilish. To return good for good is human. To return good for evil is divine. To love as God loves is moral perfection. And this perfection, Christ tells us, is our aim.

And so we follow our father's example so we can function under our father's enablement so we can fulfill our father's exhortation, which is to love one another. Sixteen times in the New Testament, that command is given. And if you love one another, that love will be unusual because it's not something that people see every day, loving your enemy.

And not only is it unusual, it is very sacrificial, yet very, very practical. Listen to what John says over in 1 John chapter 4. He says this, by this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through him. And this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

This is love, that God loves us enough to die for us, that God loves us enough to save us, to satisfy the wrath of God against us. He would say earlier in 1 John chapter 3, these words, by this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his neighbor.

By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. The lines aren't blurred between the children of God and the children of the devil. They're very obvious.

The children of God practice righteousness. The children of the devil don't. The children of God, because they practice righteousness, love one another, and the children of the devil do not.

So the Lord says, this is how you've been taught. You've been taught all wrong all these years. And that's got to be hard for anybody, right? You go to church for years and years and years, and you find out you've been taught the wrong thing.

It's like, wait a minute. Yeah, like I said last week, you've heard error for so long that when someone comes along and speaks the truth, you think the truth is error. But it's not.

It's true. And this is Jesus. He's speaking the truth, explaining to man exactly what it means to love, because it's the highest of all virtues.

He says, you've omitted something from your command, but worse, you've added to it, added something I never, ever said. And you cannot take away from what God says, nor can you add to what God says without experiencing the punishment of God.

So he says, love is important. It's so important, it's impossible. It's so impossible, it's impractical. So impractical, because it's impartial.

But yet it is so impressive. Why? Because you do what no one else will ever do, because you're a child of mine. It's all about learning to live like a child of the King.

And may God grant us the mercy to be those children. Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for tonight, this chance you've given us to look into your word and the opportunity you've given to challenge us, Lord.

We're all challenged. We're all convicted. We're all like those on the hillside on the North Shore of the Sea of Galilee, reeling from what we have read and what we have heard, because it's contrary to all that we have heard and seen and know.

It's just so different, but yet it's so true. So our prayer, Father, is that you give us the grace and the mercy to live in light of your word. If we're here today, tonight, and we do not know you, Lord, save our souls.

Save us from our sin. May we cry out to you and beg for mercy. And Lord, you will always grant it, because that's the kind of God you are.

And for those of us who do know you, Lord, Lord, help us to be encouraged, not discouraged, recognizing that, Lord, because of your enablement, we can accomplish these things. You've granted us your spirit. We are partakers of the divine nature of the living God, the God who defines himself as love.

May we be those kinds of people. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.