True Love, Part 1

Isn't it good to know that we have the assurance of eternal life with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let's pray together. Father we thank you once again for the great joy that you give to us. A joy that goes beyond anything we can ever imagine because it deals with the depths of our soul. We thank you Lord Jesus that it's your word that speaks to us about you. And today we have the opportunity to examine it once again and pray that as we do we would have our eyes opened, our ears attentive, our heart receptive to that which is true.

That Lord we would learn to act upon what it is you say because Father these are your words not the words of man but the words of God that speak to the heart of man. In Jesus name. Amen. Turn with me in your Bible if you would to Luke chapter 6.

Luke chapter 6 as we continue our study in this great sermon of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the greatest of all sermons. Now we know that this isn't the first sermon that's been recorded in the Bible because we know that in Luke chapter 4 we had that first sermon recorded as we understood what took place in that synagogue in Nazareth in Luke chapter 4.

And while that was not the entire sermon because we know that our Lord read the scripture because of how the synagogues were ran he would have spoken about that specific scripture. We know that everything he said was not recorded just like in Luke 6. Everything he said was not recorded but what is recorded is what God wants us to understand about true Christianity about what it means to live for the Lord. Now Matthew in Matthew 5, 6, and 7 gives us a greater detail to this sermon but Luke's account is a little shorter and Luke records some things that Matthew doesn't record and vice versa but they give us what God wants us to hear.

And this sermon is a sermon about salvation. That's why it's so great. It's a sermon that helps us understand true saving faith and the way that Jesus says it is a lot different than the way we say it today.

That's unfortunate. The way Jesus explained it is a lot different than the way we explain it today. We go around talking to people about Christ in our little system of salvation, our little 3, 4, 5, 6 point outlining, trying to regurgitate what we've been taught in a classroom. But when Jesus preached about salvation he preached in such a way that it was completely contrary to what the Jews of his day understood. In fact, what Jesus said in every one of his sermons went against what everybody believed to be true.

Jesus didn't say it the way everybody else had heard it before. In fact, in Matthew's account, as you recall, he would say these words, you have heard that it was said by the ancients of old, but I say to you. They had heard it one way, they believe in a certain way, but Jesus says you heard it wrong.

It's truly this way. This is what it really says. This is what true Christianity is all about. So when Jesus spoke, he spoke in such a way that it went against people's normal everyday belief. And you know what? When we study this sermon, we read this sermon, unfortunately it goes against a lot about what we believe as well. In fact, we're going to read some things today that we're going to have a hard time digesting. We're going to read some things today that we just, well not we, but some of you are just going to refuse to do.

But it speaks to the true character of your life. Because Jesus speaks in contrasts in a sermon. He didn't want people to be in the dark about who was saved and who wasn't saved. He wanted people to clearly understand true salvation. So he speaks about those who are blessed and those who are cursed. He speaks about those who are truly saved and those who are not. Those who are real and those who are unreal. Those who are redeemed versus those who are religious. Big difference. Big difference. On our way to church today, we were driving by another church and all these people were coming out.

Hundreds of them. None of them carried a Bible, but they all came out walking from the place of assembly where they had gathered for an early church service. And I'm sitting looking at these people, noticing that none of them have a Bible. What do they go to church for? What do they go to do? See? They went to do what everybody else does on this day who are, quote, religious. They go to fulfill a duty, thinking that that somehow gains them standing with God. That somehow God will be pleased because they went to church.

Listen, nothing we do is going to please the Lord God. Nothing we do is going to gain merits with God. God wants us to honor Him because of what He has done in our lives. You go to worship God, you go with Bible in hand to study who God is. And Jesus wants to make sure that these people understand what true Christianity is all about. Because for the most part, they were Jewish. There were some pagans there, some from Tyre and Phoenicia, Tyre and Sidon, the Phoenician area. But for the most part, these were Jewish people who believe because of their family heritage, who believe because they were the chosen people of God, that they were automatically going to go to heaven.

But Jesus says, no, on the contrary. It's a lot different than that. And the message that Jesus preached is the same message John the Baptist preached, same message the Apostles preached, same message the prophets of old preached. It's a message of truth about what it means to be a follower of God. The Bible says in verse number 20 that there were a lot of disciples that had gathered around.

He fixed His gaze upon them because He wanted them to understand what He was saying was absolute truth. So as He fixes His gaze upon them, there were many people, a multitude of disciples, as you were with us the last couple weeks. It's just a learner, a student. They saw Jesus as their rabbi and they were learning. They came to learn about the kingdom. They came to learn about God. They came to learn about what it is this miracle worker does and who He is. They came to learn. It doesn't mean that they were truly born again Christians, that they were truly committed to following Christ.

Many of them were in the middle of the road. They didn't know. Some were committed disciples. Some were not. Others just came to learn, to hear, to listen, to figure out what all the commotion was about. They didn't really understand true commitment to Christ. And so Christ slowly but surely helps them understand what is real versus unreal. Who are the children of the light? Who are the children of darkness? Who are the ones who really truly hear and understand Him versus those who don't? So it becomes an absolutely crucial message for us even today.

Because we go to church and there are some who are here wondering about what Christ's community church is all about. Wondering what we believe. Wondering about who God is and what He does. Haven't made that commitment to Christ. Others have been coming for a long time. Are just refusing to believe in God. Trying to fool everybody else into thinking that they're Christians. But in reality they're not. Others truly committed. True disciples of the Lord Jesus. True followers of Christ. Wanting to learn more about Him so that they might love Him all the more.

We find ourselves in the same situation that Jesus was in as He would address the crowd because He wanted them to know for certain. See Christ was an evangelist. The greatest of all evangelists. And so how it is He spoke the gospel is how we need to speak the gospel if we're going to be true to the Word and be true biblical evangelists. Because He came to seek and to save that which is lost. He wanted people to know what it meant to to be born again. What it meant to be a follower of God. He didn't want to leave them with confusion.

And when Christ spoke there was very little confusion. Because slowly but surely He would take a sword. Not a literal sword. But He would take a sword and begin to divide the people. Christ says when I came I didn't come to bring peace.

I came to bring a sword. I came to divide. I came so people would know the truth about who I am. What it is they believe. And where they will spend eternity. So slowly but surely as He speaks the longer He speaks the deeper the sword goes. He begins to divide father from daughter. Husband from wife. Grandparents from grandkids. Brother from sister. Because that's what Jesus came to do. He came to do that. See we don't understand the ministry of Jesus as it is portrayed in the Gospels. We think we do because we heard some Sunday school stories growing up.

Heard some stories about the parables. Heard some stories about the miracles. Heard some stories about the crucifixion and the resurrection. But we don't understand the ministry of Christ. The ministry was so powerful that when He would speak a word it was so utterly different than they ever heard before. Because it was contrary to normalcy. What they thought was normal. What they thought was right. Jesus says no it's wrong.

You're wrong. That's not the way it is. This is the way it is. So He begins to speak to them concerning true Christianity. He wants them to know for certain whether or not they're saved. And so He begins. How do you know you're saved? How do you know you're a child of the kingdom of God? How do you know you're a part of the kingdom? He says it all begins with how you view yourself. How you view yourself. True citizens of the kingdom see themselves as poor in spirit. They see themselves as spiritually bankrupt.

They see themselves as having nothing to offer God that will ever please Him. They see themselves as not just poor but begging poor. So poor that there's a hunger and there's a thirst for that which they cannot obtain. Which causes them to weep profusely over their sin. Because they know they have nothing to offer God. And that's when God saves a soul. And when God saves a soul He transforms a soul. And those people are the ones who experience insults, criticism, persecution, ridicule, and rejection.

Because they stand for that which is true. You see the religious people they don't see themselves as spiritually bankrupt. They see themselves as rich. They see themselves as well-fed. They see themselves as happy. And they see themselves as popular. They don't see themselves in need of a Savior. Because what they have to offer God is good enough to get them into heaven. They have a works-based system. A system that says if I do it this way or if I do it good enough on this way at this time God will be pleased and I'll make it to heaven.

They are not poor but they are rich with their own works. And they are the ones who are well-fed. They're well satisfied with their system of religion. Because it works for them. Doesn't work for God but it works for them. So they're well satisfied with that system. And because they are they're happy. They're happy with what they offer God. Even though God's not. And they have a form of religion that is so appealing that everybody accepts it. Everybody likes it because it's tolerant of all religions.

It's satisfying to all kinds of people from different walks of life. And yet Christ says those people are in the same category as false prophets.

And false prophets are doomed to hell. False prophets are damned to hell. So Christ begins his sermon very succinctly, very clearly. Listen.

Here are the blessed. Here are the cursed. You are either among the blessed or you are among the cursed. If you see yourself as poverty stricken. If you see yourself as hungry. That is not physically hungry but spiritually hungry. Wanting to know more of God. Wanting to seek after God. And realizing you have nothing to give him that causes you as Paul would say in 2nd Corinthians 7 to weep in a godly sorrow kind of way that produces repentance. Then you're saved. And if you're saved. If you're born again.

You're a citizen of the kingdom. Then what happens? People will treat you the way they treated Jesus. With rejection and ridicule and insults. But you're the blessed person. The cursed one is the one who's satisfied with the way he's living his life. It's okay. God will understand. God's a God of love. He'll accept me. One day he'll look at me and say he did a good job.

Come on in. I know you weren't great but you tried hard enough. You did the best you could. And I'm satisfied with that. And I preach that message. Well that was the Jews. That was the Pharisees. That was the people on that day who stood before Christ. They saw themselves differently than God saw them. How do you see yourself? Do you see yourself the way God sees you? Do you see yourself as broken in spirit? In contrite? Trembling under the authority of God's Word? Begging for mercy. Crying out for God to save you.

Asking God to show mercy upon your soul. Because you can't offer him anything that will save you. And so you you cry to him. And with a godly sorrow it produces a repentance that leads to salvation. That transforms your life so that your life is completely different than it was before. And when people see that and you speak the truth, on that day they will cast insults at you. They will reject you. They will ridicule you because of your stand for the truth. Your stand for Christ. Folks that's salvation.

What message have you heard? Is that the message that you have heard? Is that the message that brought you to saving grace? If not, you need to examine yourself to see whether or not you're truly born again. This is just not some story in the Bible. This is God's message of salvation to lost souls. This is the people are blessed. Blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of God. They have the kingdom of heaven. They are participants in that kingdom. They are inheriting that kingdom. They are a part of God's glorious kingdom.

Those who are not broken over their sin. Those who are not spiritually bankrupt. Those who do not hunger and thirst for righteousness. Theirs is not the kingdom. They are outside the kingdom. Now ask yourself this question. Are you in the kingdom or outside the kingdom? That's what Jesus says.

So he says listen. This is how we're going to begin. I know you're sick. You've been made well. I know you've been lame. You are healed. I know you've been blind and now you can see because the Bible says earlier in chapter 6 that he healed all who came to him and so he knows that physically they're made better but spiritually they need to be made right with God.

If not they will die in their sin and be forever separated from him. So he speaks to the heart and soul of man. You need to know the truth. You need to know what the Bible says.

So how do I know that I'm a true Christian? How do I know that I'm truly born again? How do I know that Jesus Christ is a ruler of my life? Number one, how I view myself.

I view myself in light of what God says about me. I hate iniquity and all its ramifications and I cry out for mercy and God saves me. Number two, is how you view others.

How you view others. That will show you whether or not you're born again. Whether or not you're truly saved. This sermon is about salvation. This sermon is about kingdom living. This sermon is about those who are citizens of the kingdom of God. You measure yourself against God's standard. Not your standard. Not my standard. Not some preacher standard. Not some book standard. You measure yourself against God's standard. That's the only standard that measures. Because it's the true standard. It talks about those who are blessed and those who are cursed.

See, Jesus makes the distinction between the sinners and the sons of the Most High God. Let me read to you a sermon about true love.

We would think that we're lovers. After all, we're Christians. So we love. But unfortunately, when you read what Jesus says today, you're gonna have to do some real soul-searching about how it is you truly love.

Listen to what Jesus says. He begins with a contrast and then he gives some commands. We'll begin at verse number 27 because this is where we left off last week. But I say to you who hear, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also. And whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you and whoever asks or takes away, I'm sorry, what is yours, do not demand it back.

And just as you want people to treat you, treat them in the same way. And 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. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. But love your enemies. Do good and lend, expecting nothing in return.

And your reward will be great. And you will be sons of the Most High. For he himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. And do not judge, and you will not be judged. And do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you in return. Now you're on the hillside there in Galilee, and you're hearing this sermon, and all of a sudden Jesus says, these are the blessed, these are the cursed.

And then he says, but, he gives a contrast. I say to you, who hear? Who are the ones who hear? Well the ones who hear are the ones who are the blessed, because the blessed hear. The cursed don't want to hear. The blessed want to hear. If you're here today, and you want to hear this message about loving your enemies, you're among the blessed. If you don't want to hear it, you're among the cursed. That's the contrast. But, but, Christ says, I say to you, who hear?

Those who hear, understand, listen, believe, and are willing to act on what they hear. That's why at the conclusion of the sermon, he gives the whole, the whole conclusion of the man who acts upon the words of God, because the hearer is the blessed man, and the blessed man wants to do what his master says. The cursed man doesn't care what the master says. So he opens this part of his sermon with a contrast between those who are sinners, and those who are sons of the Most High God. If you lend to those who lend to you, if you love those who love you, what good is that?

Sinners do that. That's no big deal. But if you love your enemy, if you love those who persecute you, if you pray for those who are against you, if you reach out and do good to those who have harmed you, well, now it's different, because now it's not natural, it's supernatural. You're showing yourself a son of the Most High God. You have proven yourself to be among the blessed and not the cursed. See, Jesus says it in a way that we've never heard it before, because if we'd heard it from somebody else other than Jesus, we wouldn't have liked it.

But because Jesus said it, that we are children of the Most High God, then we accept it. You see, because what Jesus said was unacceptable to the Jews. Completely unacceptable. And Jesus says, those who hear the voice of God.

Remember 2 Corinthians 2.14? The natural man does not understand the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to him. He didn't hear. The natural man doesn't hear the voice of God. The natural man doesn't want to know anything about what God has to say. But the spiritual man, he wants to hear, because he wants to learn, because he wants to do what God says.

See, the essence of Christianity is a desire, a supreme desire, to obey God. A longing to do what He says. Not because you have to, but because you want to. You want to. See, that's Christianity at its core root. You want to hear what God has to say. You want to do what God says, because He is the Creator.

He's the Master. He's the Maker. He's the King. He's the Lord. You want to follow Him. He's your Master. You're His slave. You're a slave. Which, by the way, is a great study for you to undertake. For most translations translate doulos as servant, and that's wrong. Most translations, virtually all translations, translate the word slave as servant. The word doulos is servant. And you're not a servant. You're a slave. If you're a Christian, you're a slave. Big difference between a servant and a slave.

A slave has been bought out of the slave market of sin. The slave has no rights, none whatsoever. The slave is called to obey. And that's all. And that's why later on in Luke, when Jesus says about forgiveness, when you have forgiven your brother, you have done that which is your duty to do.

And you are still an unprofitable slave. Still. When you have done all that is your duty to do, and you're sitting back thinking, man, I am so good. I forgave that man who mistreated me. I forgave that one who ran out on me. I forgave that one. I am looking really, really good. Jesus said, hold on a second.

I want to let you know that when you have forgiven that person who's mistreated you, abused you, ridiculed you, you are still an unprofitable slave. You have done only that which is your duty to do. Don't think you are any better than what I say you are. You are a slave, and that is it. You've just done your duty. Now see, that message is not a very kind message, is it? Because it doesn't soothe our hearts. It doesn't make us feel good about ourselves. I don't want to go to church and hear about being a slave.

I don't want to be a slave. I want to be a branch. I want to be a bride. He's the bridegroom. I'm the bride. He's the vine. I'm the branch. I want to hear those kind of things. I don't want to hear he's the master and I'm the slave. I don't want to hear that. Because I don't like the connotations that that has for my own life. Because down deep, I want some rights. Down deep, I want to be right. How many times have we said what the Bible says?

Whenever your rights are first, righteousness always suffers. Always. Whenever you put your rights ahead of your husband, put your rights ahead of your wife, put your rights ahead of somebody else, righteousness always suffers. Because at the core that is saying, I have a right to this. I am better than what you say I am. I am better than what God says.

I have rights. If you can show me a verse in the Bible that says you have rights, read it to me. It's not there. Because you're a slave. You're a slave. So am I. That's what we are. And we serve the greatest of all masters. The good thing about being a slave is that even though we're God's slaves, God doesn't treat us as slaves. He treats us as friends. But that's a sermon for Luke chapter 17 when we get there. But this is how you understand true Christianity. See? So Christ presents the contrast.

And then he gives the command. Here it is. You ready? Love your enemies. Love your enemies. Now, if I'm a Jew, that to me is immoral. If I'm a Pharisee, I've grown up believing that that is absolutely ungodly. Because you see, I don't love my enemy. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5? You have heard that it was said by the ancients of old, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Because that's what they were taught. Love your neighbor, hate your enemy. That's what they were taught. Why?

Because they were under the oppression of Rome. And they hated the Romans. And they hated everything that Rome stood for. They hated their idolatry. They hated their paganism. They hated everything about Rome. They hated those who were against their tradition. They hated those who were against their religious establishment. They hated everybody who was against them. Because they were right and everybody else was wrong. They were Jews. They were God's people. They were God's chosen people. And what they thought to be right was right, no matter what anybody else said.

Therefore, they hated everybody else because they were the enemies of God. See? And if they were the enemies of God, they were the enemies of Judaism. And Jesus says, to those of you who hear, those of you who want to hear, love your enemies.

That would be like going to Israel today and saying, Israel, we want you to love the suicide bombers. We want you to do that. Because God said so. They're your enemies. We want you to love the Arab nations. We want you to do that because God says to love your enemies.

And they would say, we're not doing that. Just like you would say if someone came to you and said, you know what? You need to love, love your husband, even though he has taken you through a bitter divorce. Because he's your enemy. God says, love your enemies.

Or go to that person whose son or daughter was killed by a drunk driver and say to that person, love the drunk driver, the enemy, who killed your son or daughter. See, now it's a little bit more real to us, isn't it? We're like saying, I'm not doing that. Because you see, somehow vengeance is a noble virtue in America. Vengeance is mine in America. And you know, if you're a cultist, if you're a terrorist, if you're an abortionist, if you're a murderer, if you're a rapist, I hate you because you are against what God says.

Really? And so what does God say? God says, love your enemies. Just to camp out on that phrase, we could be here for months. Love your enemies. The command begins with an attitude. This is your attitude toward those who persecute you, those who insult you, those who ridicule you. Because of who you are, how you view yourself, you are spiritually bankrupt, you are poor, you are begging poor, you are hungering and thirsting for righteousness and weeping over your sin. Well, when people see your transformed life and hear about the words you have to say concerning God, they ridicule you, they abuse you.

And Jesus says to those of you who hear, I need you to love those people. Love your enemy. For Jew, that was never going to happen. Why? Deuteronomy 23. God would direct Israel to wipe out the pagan nations, to kill those idolatrous people. And Israel, obeying to God, would carry out God's direct orders. Because God was not going to stand for pagan idolatry. And so God would give the command and they would fulfill that command. But Jews began to believe that they became the ones who enact the judgment against those who defied their God.

And so the Pharisees and the rabbis began to teach how it is those people who are the enemies of God are our enemies as well. And we have every right to hate them, every right to wipe them off the face of the earth. They would use the imprecatory psalms, like Psalm 59. The imprecatory psalms means psalms of judgment. And yet the psalmist would pray for God to enact the judgment upon his enemies. But the Jews reversed that and said, you know what? Because we are instruments in the hand of God. God used us centuries ago to destroy pagan people.

We are the instruments in the hand of God. We can make the decision on who we will hate, who we will love. And those we hate, we will destroy. We will judge because we are God's instruments. And that's what they were taught. So when Jesus says in Matthew 5, you have heard that said by the ancients of old, love your neighbor and hate your enemy, they'd be saying, amen, Jesus.

Preach it again. We love our neighbor and we hate our enemy because that's what we've been taught from of old. And yet that's not what the Bible says.

In fact, later in Deuteronomy chapter 32, the Lord God would say, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. In fact, if you go all the way back to the book of Exodus, the 23rd chapter, it says this in verse number four, if you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him and you shall surely release it with him. Quite the contrary to what the rabbis taught.

So if you see your enemy's ox, he's stuck, unstick him, take him back. Why? Because you're to love your enemy. Listen to the words of Job, Job 31. Job says this, verse 29, have I rejoiced at the extinction of my enemy or exulted when evil befell him? No, I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life in a curse. Think about that. Job says, if I get excited when my enemy dies, if I get excited and exult because my enemy has all kinds of evil coming down upon him, I've sinned. See, the rabbis do that.

The rabbis knew Proverbs chapter 25, verse number 21, that says, if your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. If he's thirsty, give him water to drink. For you will heap burning coals on his head and the Lord will reward you. See, the Bible spoke to the fact that you were to love your enemy, not hate your enemy. But Judaism taught, love your neighbor, hate your enemy. In fact, the big question in Judaism was, who is my neighbor? Remember that whole question in Luke chapter 10? We'll get to it in a couple of months.

Luke chapter 10 says in verse number 25, and behold a certain lawyer stood up and put him to the test saying, teacher what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Because in Judaism, there were certain things you could do that would allow you to inherit eternal life. That was their belief. It's their belief today. There are certain things I can do that will cause me to inherit eternal life. He said to him, what is written in the law? How does it read to you? And he answered and said, 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 he said to him, you have answered correctly. Do this and you will live. If you do this, you will live. You will have eternal life. But wishing to justify himself, the lawyer said to Jesus, who is my neighbor? Ooh, wrong question to ask Jesus. I can love my neighbor if my neighbor is my friend. I can love my neighbor if my neighbor is kind to me. I can love my neighbor if we can do some good things together. If my neighbor is an Essene and I am an Essene, I can love him. If my neighbor is a Pharisee and I'm a Pharisee, I can love him.

But if my neighbor is somebody else, I got some problems. So how do I get to heaven? And Jesus says, you know the story.

A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among some robbers. They stripped him and beat him and went off, leaving him half dead. And by chance, a certain priest, oh here's a religious guy, was going down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Now I've been on this road. It's called the road of blood. It's not a very wide road at all. It's very small. We've driven on a bus before, and that bus barely fits on that road. So it's not very wide. It's a windy road through the hills of Judea.

The road of blood. Priest-ism walks by. Says, and likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side as well. But a certain Samaritan, a half-breed traitor to Judaism, who was on a journey, came upon him. When he saw him, he felt compassion and came to him, 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. And 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.

Which of these, Jesus says, do you think prove to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robber's hands?

And the teacher said, the one who showed mercy to him? Ah, Jesus says, you got it right. Go and do the same. Problem was he couldn't, because he hated his enemy. Do you have an enemy? Who is he? Who is she? Who are they? Do you love them or do you hate them? Jesus says, if you love them, you prove yourself to be a son of the Most High God.

If you don't love them, you've proven yourself to be among the sinners who only love those who love themselves, who only lend to those who will be able to lend back to them, who only do good to those who can do good to them, and that means absolutely nothing to God. See, it's abnormal to love your enemies. That's not normal. But see, the Christian life is abnormal. The Christian life is supernatural. It goes way beyond what it is we think it truly is all about to something that goes into the whole realm of the supernatural, because God's in charge and God's at work.

Paul would say the same thing in Romans chapter 12, verse number 17. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Then he quotes Proverbs 25. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. Thirsty? Give him a drink, for in doing so you will heap burning coals upon his head.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. See, how do you know you're saved? You hate iniquity and you love your enemy. That's how you know. There's no gray area there. Jesus doesn't make it confusing for us. He makes it very clear. He says it begins with your attitude. Love your enemy. And it moves to your actions. He says, do good to those who hate you. Do good? What kind of goodness? See, we want to clarify that, because we don't want to be too good. We want to be good enough, but not too good.

And so Jesus says, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. What kind of goodness? Remember Romans 2.4 says, it's the goodness of God that leads you to what? Repentance. So the goodness you do to those who hate you is the goodness that somehow will lead them to a point of repentance. It's the goodness, it's the good acts, it's the benevolent acts of kindness that have redeeming value, that have lasting value. You do the kind of things that God did for you so that you would be brought to a point of repentance.

That's the same kind of acts of goodness you do to those who hate you. And so you begin to see that Christ views citizens of his kingdom a little bit differently than we view citizens of his kingdom. Begins with your attitude. Love your enemies. It moves to your actions. Do good to those who hate you. And then it moves to your address. That is how you speak to them. He says, bless those who curse you. Speak well of them. Excuse me. It says, speak blessing into their lives. How do you do that? How do you speak blessing into the lives of those who curse you?

You speak to them the blessing of good news, the blessing of the gospel. You speak to them about the truth. You speak the truth because the truth brings blessing to those who need to know God. If they hate you because of your stand for Christ, if they curse you and they speak against you, all kinds of evil against you, then what do you do? Well you then do good because you love them and you bless them who curse you. That is you speak the good news to them. You talk to them about 1 Corinthians 16.22 that all those who do not love the Lord let them be accursed.

You talk to them about James 4.4 that he who is an enemy or friend of the world is an enemy of God. You speak to them about the gospel and talk to them about being poor in spirit and hungering and thirsting for righteousness and weeping over the sin because that is speaking the greatest blessing to people, introducing them to the kingdom. You do good deeds. You do acts of kindness to them, the kind of acts that will lead them to a point of repentance so that you can speak to them about what it means to be repentant that they might see God and believe in him.

So what is the act in the command? The command is your attitude. Love your enemies. Your actions do good to them who hate you and your address to them. You bless those who curse you and then your appeal. You pray for those who mistreat you. You pray for them. What do you pray? You pray that God will open the door of the gospel. You pray that their hearts would be receptive to the gospel. You pray that they would understand the truth of the gospel. You pray for their salvation. That's what you do.

You pray that God will redeem their soul. See? See, when we are, when we follow the line of thinking here in Luke chapter 6 and we become those who are mistreated, persecuted, and rejected, what are we going to do? We're going to crawl up into a hole and die. Woe is me. People don't like me. People have said something evil against me. Oh, woe is me. Instead, God says, no, on the contrary, those of you who are here, love your enemy.

Instead of crawling up into a hole because you have been mistreated, you have been persecuted, you have been ridiculed, you have been rejected, you have been alienated, instead of crawling up into a hole, what does the Christian do? The Christian reaches out. He loves his enemy. His attitude is the kind of attitude that Christ had when God demonstrated his love for us and that while we were yet enemies, he died for us. See that? If you're going to be a citizen of the kingdom, you got to have the character of the king of the kingdom, right?

That's what it's all about. Well, you can't do that normally. You can only do it through the spirit of God infusing you, empowering you, and motivating you to live for the glory of the Lord Jesus. And so you love your enemies because your attitude now is right. And so you reach out to them and you do acts of kindness. Your actions lead them to see Christ in you. And now you speak to them in a way that will help them understand what it is you believe, why you believe it, and why they need to come to Christ.

All the while, you appeal as to God. You pray for them. You pray for your enemy. You pray for those who reject you, those who insult you. You pray that God would save their soul. Jesus did on the cross. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Father, forgive them. That was a prayer of appeal to those who were his enemies. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Stephen in Acts chapter 7, when he was being pummeled with stones, instead of crying down vengeance upon these people, oh God, get him, he said, Lord, forgive them.

Forgive them. Hold not this charge to their account. That was Stephen, because he understood what it meant to be a child of the King. Do you? That's why Jesus preaches the sermon. You gotta know. And so as he, the more he speaks, the more he divides. He separates the blessed from the cursed, the redeemed from the religious, the true from the false, those in the light versus those in the dark. You see, whenever Jesus preached, he ran off the nominal. He ran off those who are uncommitted. He ran off those who did not want to follow the truth.

He wasn't into gaining big crowds. He just wanted people to know the truth. Just know the truth. This is what it is. And by virtue of the truth, the truth would be that which would divide, and the truth is that which conquers, because it's the truth of God. And so as he speaks, people were offended. If I'm a Jew, and I'm listening to this sermon, I am deeply offended. Deeply offended. So offended, I become angry. And that's why the Pharisees became so incensed with Jesus. They hated everything he said.

They couldn't stand the way he said it. They were so embittered against him. They were so angry with, against him. They just kept looking for ways to kill him, to rid themselves of this man, all of his sermons, because his sermon, and if they would have been on tape, they'd have burned all the tapes too. They got rid of everything he said, because everything he said to them was wrong. Everything he said went against their system of belief. Everything he said, and how he said it, so incensed them, they wanted to kill him.

In fact, they even said he had a demon. And he was demon possessed. Why? Because those words, love your enemy, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who insult you, bless those who curse you, they just didn't accept that. That wasn't what they were about. And why weren't they about that? It's because they were among the cursed, and not among the blessed. Folks, that's just the simple answer. That's the true answer. Because the blessed person will say, Lord, this is hard for me. This is so hard for me, because of what has taken place in my life over this week, this year, the last decade.

Lord, this is really hard for me. But Lord, because you said it, I need you to give me the power to accomplish it. That's the believer. The unbeliever says, I'm not doing that. Not on your life. I refuse to even begin to do good to those who hate me. That's the unbeliever. That was verisexed. That's the way they live their lives. Where do you stand? As a sword falls, which side do you fall on? You fall on the side of the blessed, or do you fall on the side of the cursed? You can be on the side of the blessed by giving your life to Christ, saying, Lord, I want you to rule my life.

I want to be among those who hear. I want to be a son of the most high God. I want to be a citizen of the kingdom of God. Lord, I want to follow you fully. You can do that this very day. If, if that's your heart's desire, let's pray. Lord, we are grateful for your word that speaks so clearly to our hearts. I pray, Father, for those among us today who have a hard time with this message because of what has taken place in their past. I pray that your spirit would work in their hearts, and they realize that only way they can love their enemy, the only way they can bless those who curse them, and do good to those who hate them, and to pray for those who insult them, is through the spirit of God who empowers them to do so.

That's what makes them citizens of the kingdom. They need you to infuse them with the power of your spirit. And I pray for all of us, Lord, that we look at our lives and ask ourselves, where do we stay in with Jesus Christ?

Maybe there are some here today who thought that all along they were saved. In reality, they have no idea about the kingdom and how to become a citizen of your kingdom. Lord, instruct them this day on what that means. Draw them to yourself that they might experience the power of Almighty God. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.