We're gonna talk about the perfect
law of love. And anytime we delve into this
subject scripturally, it is certainly a convicting message. I don't
have this in your lesson, but I recall it's recorded in the
book of Mark chapter 12, where one of the scribes approached
our Lord and asked him this question. He asked, he said, which is the
first commandment? And what he's wanting to know
is which is the greatest of all the commandments? And the Lord
said, the greatest of all commandments, the first, is the Lord our God
is one God, and to love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and
strength, is the first and the greatest of all commandments,
And the second one, he said, is to love our neighbors as ourselves. And what he was setting forth
there is how, number one, how all the law is summarized in
that law of love. The thing about it is, when you
look at the, like for example, the Ten Commandments, and you
see the negatives, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt
not. The fact of the matter is, is
if we loved one another, loved our neighbor, which by the way
includes our worst enemies, if we love them the way the law
commands us to love them, there'd be no thou shalt nots. Thou shalt
not kill. We're not gonna kill somebody
we love. Thou shalt not steal. We're not gonna steal from somebody
we love. You see what I'm saying? So that whole law is encapsulated
in that love. And then the second thing is,
the kind of love that the law requires that would equal righteousness
is the perfect love that is displayed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
we all should do our best to love one another, to love God
and to love one another. And we should strive to do it. We should fight to do it. The warfare of the flesh and
the spirit because we're so full of self-love, selfishness, self-righteousness. So we should strive to love one
another. That's what we should do. But
we also realize that we will never in this life attain the
perfection of love that the law requires so as to count us righteous
in God's sight. And so that's what the Lord is
going to show here beginning in verse 38. He starts off in
verse 38, you've heard that it hath been said, an eye for an
eye and a tooth for a tooth. Now why would he raise that issue
in talking about love? Well, one of the things that
is so natural to us in our sinfulness is personal vengeance. If somebody does us wrong, what
do we want to do? We want to get back at them. As somebody said, we want to
get our pound of flesh. You know the Pharisees had perverted
the law. As you go through the Sermon
on the Mount, the Lord is constantly setting aright the wrongs that
the Pharisees had taught. And so this law, eye for an eye
and tooth for a tooth, It's recorded in Exodus 21 and Leviticus 24
and Deuteronomy 19. It was part of the law of God,
an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. And what's that
mean? That was a judicial law. It was
not unjust. It was to be enforced by the
civil courts, just like our civil magistrates. And it simply says
this, the punishment must fit the crime. And there's nothing
wrong with that. And we all ought to be for it.
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. In fact, one of
our most perverted issues in our society today is that our
civil courts won't enforce this idea of justice. An eye for an
eye and a tooth for a tooth. They let criminals go free. They
let them off too easy. The punishment doesn't fit the
crime. But that's what that's about. And of course, the greatest
example of that, as you well know, is the law which was perfectly
fulfilled in the obedience unto death of Christ. In his death
on the cross, this law of justice, eye for an eye and a tooth for
a tooth, was fully satisfied in a just way. And it was right,
because why? Because sin demands death. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. The wages of sin is death. What
did he do? Our sins were imputed to him,
and he died for those sins. He satisfied justice. Every ounce
of justice that the law required, Christ satisfied it fully. And
that's how God receives us on a just ground. His righteousness
imputed to us. And so, that's the perfection
of love. Christ kept the law perfectly.
But as we strive to keep the law, we realize that we will
never attain in ourselves, in our love for God, in our love
for one another, in our love for our neighbor, we'll never
achieve in this life the perfection of love. I've often said, if
you go down Dawson Road, you'll see a sign by a church, and it
says, this church loves Albany. Well, to me, that's bragging
on your love. That's the way I look at it.
Maybe I'm being too hard, I don't think so. But here's the thing. The love that he's talking about
is a love that we don't have by nature. This is love. This is divine love. This is
not just general brotherly love. It's not erotic love. It's not
just love of our brethren, our brothers in humanity. This is
a divine love that the Holy Spirit sheds abroad within our hearts
by showing us, revealing to us the love of God to us in the
person and work of his son. We quote 1 John chapter four
and verse 10 quite often. Herein is love. Not that we love
God. In other words, the essence and
nature of true divine love is not going to be found in our
love to God. But it's found in his love to
us And it's proven by the fact that he sent his son to be the
propitiation for our sins. The law satisfying sacrifice,
who satisfied justice, that's the love of God for us. And that
kind of love, no sinner has by nature, it's shed abroad in our
hearts when we're born again by the Spirit as He reveals the
magnitude and the nature of God's love to us. And what is the magnitude
and the nature of God's love for us? Well, I've got recorded
in your lesson, Romans 5, one through 11. Read that sometime.
And here's what it says. that even when we were enemies
of God. Enemies. God haters. Idolaters. God loved us. Sent his son to die for us. In other words, we were not qualified
for God's love. We were qualified for God's hate. And make no mistake about it,
God does hate. The Bible says he does. He hates
all sinners to whom sin is imputed. All workers of iniquity. So if
we are recipients of the love of God, we ought to be amazed. Amazing grace. We ought to stand
in awe of that. Because we didn't earn it and
we didn't deserve it. It was freely given on the ground
of Christ being our propitiation. And that's the kind of love that's
shed abroad in our hearts and we know it in our heads. I know
this kind of love. But oh, it's so difficult for
me to show it. And if you're honest, it's difficult
for you too. But I ought to try. Really. Not in order to be righteous
in God's sight. Christ is my righteousness. But
because he loved me and gave himself for me. And when we see
and experience this kind of love within our hearts, we see how
far short we fall. We ought to be ashamed. My point
is this. We as believers in the Lord Jesus
Christ, if you're a believer, you can honestly say, without
fail, we love God and we love our neighbor. But we still don't
have anything to brag about. I'm not gonna put it on a billboard
and talk about how much I love this one or that one. We love God. We love who God
is. Don't you love who God is? Most
people who claim to be Christian today, they read things in the
Bible that tells us about the nature of God and His sovereignty,
His holiness, and they don't like it. They don't love it,
they deny it. But boy, I love the fact that
God's in control, don't you? I love the fact that He chose
a people. before the foundation of the
world and gave him to Christ. I love the fact that Christ died
for his sheep and his sheep alone. I love his truth. But my love
falls so short of the perfection of the law that I don't have
anything to brag about. It's still a struggle for me
to love God, to love my neighbor, even to love my brethren. And
think about that loving your enemies. Loving your enemies. And one of the ways that our
inadequateness is shown is in this matter of an eye for an
eye and a tooth for a tooth. Because when somebody does me
wrong, when somebody says something I don't like, I want vengeance. But I shouldn't want it. I want them to get their just
due. What if God gave me my just due
based upon my works? Where would I be? I'd be damned
forever. And so he says, you've heard
that it's said by them of old, an eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth, but look at verse 39, but I say in you that you
resist not evil. Now he's not saying here that
we're not to stand against evil, we are. But he's talking about
vengeance here. He says that you resist not evil,
but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him
the other also. How many times is it turn the
other cheek? We make jokes about it sometimes. And he says in verse 40, if any
man will sue thee at the law, bring a lawsuit against you.
Take away your coat. Let him have your cloak also.
They had an inner coat and an outer coat. If they wanted to
take away your outer coat, well, give them your inner coat too.
What's Christ doing here? Somebody says, well, you know,
that sounds unreasonable to me. That doesn't even sound right
to me. You know what that shows? Our sinfulness. This is the perfect law of love
in every way. He says, and whosoever, verse
14, and whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him
two miles. And he says, give to him that
asketh thee from him that would borrow thee, turn thou not thou
away. Again, the perfection of love. And like I said, he's taken away
all All ideas of vengeance. Turn over to Romans chapter 12
with me. What does the Bible say concerning this subject of vengeance? Well, Romans 12 is a good commentary
on it. If you look at Romans 12 in verse
nine. And in that context, think about
the Lord hanging on the cross. one of his sayings on the cross.
And that was, on the part of sinful humanity, it was murder. Hatred. And he said, Father,
forgive them. They know not what they do. And
I think about Stephen. Remember when they were stoning
him? He said, Lord, I pray, lay not this sin to their charge.
Wow. Well, Stephen was a sinner saved
by grace, just like you and me. But look at verse nine of Romans
12. It says, let love be without
dissimulation. In other words, not divided and
not corrupted. Abhor that which is evil, cleave
to that which is good. Be kindly affection one to another
with brotherly love. This is be our goal. In honor,
preferring one to another. Not slothful in business, all
of that that he's showing there. And then look down at verse 19.
He says, or verse 17. He says, recompense to no man
evil for evil. That's personal vengeance. Provide
things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as
much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved,
avenge not yourselves. but rather give place unto wrath.
You know, when I read that, I think about King David. You remember
that when he was running from Saul, there was a time he was
encamped by a river, and across the river, there was one of Saul's
men who was marching up and down, cursing David, hollering across
the river, curse David. And David's captain come up there
and he said, let me go over and lop his head off. And David said,
no. Leave him alone. He said, you
know what David said? He said, the Lord sent him. The Lord's keeping David humble. Recompense no man evil for evil,
he says. Provide things on us. He said,
dearly beloved, avenge not yourself, verse 19, but rather give place
unto wrath. For it is written, vengeance
is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore thy enemy
hunger, feed him. Now he didn't say if your friend
hungers, feed him. We know if our friend hungers,
we're to feed him. But he says your enemy hunger,
feed him. If I do something to offend you,
you'll have a hard time forgiving me, I know you will. I'm not
your enemy, I'm your friend. My point is, we even have a hard
time forgiving our friends, let alone our enemies. If you do
something wrong to me, I have a hard time, because I'm a sinner. And he says, if he thirsts, give
him drink, for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his
head. That's another way of saying kill him with kindness. Be not overcome of evil, but
overcome evil with good. And that's the whole issue here.
Go back to Matthew 12, or Matthew 5, rather. God has never, now listen to
it, when it comes to the children of God, the elect of God, God
has never acted towards us in vengeance personally. Never,
though we have done everything to deserve it. Think about our
lives before conversion. We denied the Lord God, who deserves
all glory, and we worshiped an idol. And then even after conversion,
we still sin in our selfishness but God has never acted towards
us in personal vengeance. Now he has chastised us, but
that's not vengeance, that's love. That's like a parent disciplining
a child that he or she loves. That's not vengeance. All the
vengeance, justice, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth that we
deserve, was put upon Christ for our sins imputed to him.
And you know what he did? He drank damnation dry. That cup of wrath. So think about it. I've got in your lesson here.
Let us therefore strive to restrain ourselves from personal vengeance
and manifest to others that, this is important, by God's grace
and power in Christ, we're different from the world. Now I know that our human morality
and human love is not what separates us from the world, it's the gospel
that separates us. But when we see the world caught
up in injustice and in personal vengeance, we ought to want to
be different. We really should. In our church
family, in our dealings, we want to be different. Realizing that
that difference is not what saves us. God's grace in Christ saves us. But we don't want to be conformed
to the world. And so when we see an eye for
an eye and a tooth for a tooth, that's okay, that's justice.
And we beg our civil courts, act in justice. Do what's right. But don't let that boil down
to a vigilante type vengeance. You remember when they brought
the woman who was caught in the act of adultery and they were
gonna stone her? Well, under the law of Moses,
she deserved to be stoned. But not that way. Not with a
vigilante mob. She was to be taken before the
court and given a fair trial. And justice was to be exacted
by the court, the Sanhedrin. You see what I'm saying? I love
westerns. And a lot of times you watch
these westerns, you'll see the vigilante mob coming to the jail. to get the prisoner out and we're
gonna hang him. Well, that's sinful, that's not justice, that's
personal vengeance. And the sheriff comes out and
he says no, the judge is coming, he'll be here whenever and then
we're gonna try him, he's gonna get a fair trial and he'll be
convicted. That's what eye for an eye and
tooth for a tooth means. So anyway, you get the idea here. We all reason, you know, somebody
says, well, there's a limit to my love. Well, don't you thank
God that there wasn't a limit to his love? For God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever should
believe within him should not perish but have everlasting life.
That's talking about his people. All right, well, look at verse
43 now. He says, and here he gets right
to the point of love. You've heard that it hath been
said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. Now this
is what the Pharisees taught, and this is what most people
kind of believe. We love our friends, we hate
our enemies. Verse 44, but I say unto you,
love your enemies. You say, is that unreasonable?
Well, God loved his enemies, didn't he? Us. When we were yet
enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of the cross,
Christ on the cross. Love your enemies, bless them
that curse you. Do good to them that hate you.
Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. That's
the perfection of love in the law. And even if I could say I've
done my best to do this, which I want to be able to say that. I can't even always say that.
And I've always done my best to do that. But even when I do
my best to do that, I can't look at my love and say, well, I'm
righteous now because I love my enemies. No, no, no. But I can look at my savior and
say, he's righteous. He is my righteousness. He is my salvation. My salvation
is not conditioned on my love for even him, who gave himself
for me. Certainly not conditioned on
my love for my neighbor, thank God. My salvation is conditioned
on his love for me. So he says, verse 45, that you
may be the children of your father which is in heaven for he maketh
his son to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain
on the just and on the unjust. You've heard that before. Rains
on the just and the unjust. Now when he says that you may
be the children of your father which is in heaven, if that means
That the only way that we can be children of our Father in
heaven is based upon our love to others? If that's what it
means, then folks, we might as well close the book here and
go home. Because that's salvation by works. That's not what he means by that
at all. Salvation is by grace. It's not by our works. We are
children of God. How do we become children of
God? By the election of grace. God chose us before the foundation
of the world, gave us to Christ, by the adoption of grace, by
the redemption of grace that comes to us through Jesus Christ
our Lord. And that's known when the Holy
Spirit brings us in conviction of our sinfulness to look to
Christ and rest in Him and His righteousness. His perfection. But that you may be children
of God means that you may be like God, that you may resemble
your Heavenly Father in those communicable attributes such
as love. We want to love like Christ loved. And that's an evidence of being
a child of God. Now again, we cannot measure
our position in the family and household of God by what we do
or what we try to do. We measure our position in the
household and family of God because our Heavenly Father accepts us
in the Beloved, in Christ. So this is what he says, look
at verse 46. He says, for if you love them
which love you and reward have you, what reward have you? Do
not even the publicans the same? Now a publican, as you know,
was somebody who was despised even by unbelievers back then. They were turncoats. And what
he's saying there is simply this, if you love those who love you
and hate those who hate you, you're no better off than the
unregenerate. And he says in verse 47, and
if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others?
Do not even the publicans do so? Even in their unregenerate
sinful fellowship, they salute each other. So here's the bottom
line, verse 48. Be ye therefore perfect, even
as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Now that word perfect can be
translated in different ways according to the context. Some
people speak of this as being mature. In other words, be a
mature Christian in striving to be like Christ. But I don't
believe that's what it's saying here. Now we should be mature.
We should strive to grow in grace and in knowledge, and not only
in our thoughts, but in our actions every way. But what this is saying
is, look, strive for the perfection of righteousness, which the law
requires, realizing that we fall short. But to strive to be like Christ,
to have a desire to be like Christ, to have godly sorrow over our
sin, not that harms us or condemns us, but drives us more to Christ
for assurance of salvation, realizing that I stand before God in the
righteousness of another, freely given to me, not earned by me,
not deserved by me, strive strive to be conformed to his image
in all things. Okay.