Matthew chapter 5 and verse 38.
This is God speaking. The Lord Jesus Christ. And He says, Ye have heard that
it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. I'm going to give you a few comments
as we go. This law is God's law. And God's law is founded in justice. In the proper court of law, they
were to hand down fines which were equitable, which were equal
to the offense. The law said, thou shalt give
life for life. If you killed someone, You give
your life. Eye for an eye. If you hit someone
and it knocked their eye out, then your eye would be plucked
out. And not only that, if it was a servant that was in your
household, that person would go away free. And if there was
a ransom to be paid, you had to pay the ransom. Tooth for
tooth. hand for hand, foot for foot,
burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. So
you see, in our day, in the court system, our laws are not this
way. Our laws are designed so that
if someone comes in And it's someone that, for some reason,
the judge wants to show leniency to, he can find some way in that
law to show him leniency. But God's law said, whatever
he's done, do it to him. If he's cut off a hand, cut his
hand off. That's simple, isn't it? It allowed
for no leeway. It allowed for no mercy. It allowed
for no pollution of that law. It was cut and dry. And it even
applied to if you had an animal, you had a pet. If it was an ox
that they plowed with, and that ox had been known to buck and
carry on and gore somebody with his horns. If you didn't, if
he'd never done it before, it was okay. But if he'd done it
before and you knew he was that way and he did it to somebody,
that's your life. Because you knew it. It even
applied to your animals. But in daily affairs between
a believer and this world, all men in this world, the rule of
law, that same rule of law promotes revenge. It promotes retaliation. It promotes malice and unforgiving
spirit. Our king, Jesus, says to his
children, to the believer, that in our dealings with one another,
every believer is to be ruled by the spirit of grace and love
and not the rule of law. The believer conquers by patience
instead of by law. Non-resistance and forbearance
is the rule of the believer. Look at verse 39. But I say unto
you, that you resist not evil. When it comes to any kind of
evil, anything that would offend you, anything that would harm
you, he says, don't resist it. When it comes to personal bodily
injury, verse 39, whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek,
turn to him the other also. When it comes to personal possessions,
verse 40, if any man will sue thee at the law and take away
thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. When it comes to our personal
liberty, this next verse applies to government, what's required
of you, not trying to evade taxes and things like that. Verse 41,
whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him too. when it comes to serving others.
He says, Give to him that asketh of you, and from him that would
borrow of thee, turn not thou away. The fulfilling of the law
of God is love. It's love. Love to our neighbor. And this is what the law stated.
But those who falsely interpreted the law added a second part to
it. Look at verse 43. You've heard
that it has been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine
enemy. Now the first part, the law said,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor. But God didn't tell them to hate
their enemy. But I say unto you, now the Lord, this is the one
who gave the law, speaking. But I say unto you, love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute
you." When your enemy is cursing you, bless him. When he hates
you, do good to him. When he despitefully uses you
and persecutes you, pray for him. This is what our Savior
says it is to love your enemies. Are you a child of God? Am I a child of God? Am I born
of the Spirit of God the Father? That's what it is to be a child
of God, is to be born of His Spirit. If any man have not the
Spirit of God, he's none of His. If we are, then walk in the Spirit. Look at verse 45. that ye may
be 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." So, are you merely a child of
Adam? Now be honest. Are you walking
after the Spirit of the flesh? This is the character of the
world, verse 46. For if you love them which love you, what reward
have you? Do not even the publicans do
the same? Men who don't even know God do
that. If you salute your brethren only,
what do ye more than others? Men do that. Men who don't even
know God do that. Do not even the publicans so?
Our standard is not our fellow man. If that's the standard, we don't
have very far to rise up, because the standard is mighty low. But
that's not our standard. Our standard is our Father in
Heaven. Look over at Romans chapter 5.
Romans chapter 5. This is speaking to believers
who've been born of the Spirit of God, whose only confidence
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. They have no confidence in themselves,
no confidence in their work, no confidence in what they've
done. Here's what God said. Verse 6, For when we were yet
without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Scarcely for a righteous man,
somebody that is a righteous man, one will die for him. Yet peradventure for a good man,
some would even dare to die for him. He's not righteous, but
he's good. He's a good fellow. We like him.
Somebody will die for him. But God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God gave His only begotten Son,
not for those who had strength to do Him good, but only evil. I ask you, are you a child of
God? Is that who you are? Somebody
that only does evil? If that's the kind of person
that Christ died for, those who did only evil, God gave His only
begotten Son not for those who regarded Him as their friends,
but we regarded God as our enemy. He was our enemy in our minds. The Scripture says the carnal
man, that's the man that's born of Adam, is dead in trespasses
and sins and he hates God. He loves the God that he imagines,
he loves the God of his imagination, but he hates the true and living
God. Because he doesn't know the true and living God. Can't
know Him. The natural man receiveth not
the things of God because they're spiritually discerned. He's got
to be given the Spirit from God to behold who God is. We were not righteous. We were
not even merely good. We were ungodly sinners. But God commendeth His love. Not our love. God commendeth
His love toward us. Not our love toward Him. His
love toward us. Herein is love, not that we love
God. That's what John said. We didn't
love God. but He loved us and sent His
Son to be the propitiation for our sins, to be satisfaction
for our sins. He gave His Son to satisfy His
own justice, His own law, so that He could be merciful to
some ungodly sinners who hated Him and considered Him an enemy.
Now look back at verse 45 in our text. He says, I say unto
you, love your enemies and bless them that curse you.
Do good to them that hate you. Pray for them which despitefully
use you and persecute you that you may be the children of your
Father which is in heaven. Now, look up there at verse 39. Consider the child of God. Consider
the Son of God. He says here that you may be
the children of your Father. Let's consider His child. Let's
consider God's only begotten Son, the Son of God. Verse 39,
He's speaking and He said, I say unto you that ye resist not evil,
but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him
the other also. In laying down his life, for
these kinds of ungodly, God-hating sinners. The righteous Son of
God did not resist those who treated Him in an evil manner. He was oppressed, He was afflicted,
yet He opened not His mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumbed, so He
openeth not His mouth. folks who think that they have
obeyed what the Lord Jesus Christ says and are looking to what
the Lord Jesus Christ says as righteousness, looking to what
the Lord Jesus is commanding us here as if they commend themselves
to God by this that they've performed. It doesn't even take getting
popped on the cheek. Just say a cross word and watch
us flare up, watch us become angry, watch us swell up in pride.
When they blindfolded him, they struck him on the face and asked
him, saying, prophesy, who smote thee? And he didn't revile. He didn't even try to get away
from those that were restraining him. He just took it. I gave
my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off
the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. Verse 40, he says, if any man
will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have
thy cloak also. God, the triune holy God, had
a lawsuit against me and you. We broke the whole law of God. You realize if you break one
law in thought, you've broken the whole law of God. And we
broke the whole law of God. And God had a lawsuit against
us, but he sent his son to pay the debt, to answer to justice,
to pay the penalty that the law demanded of us, which is death.
And when He came, we took Him to the court of law and cried
out, We have a law! And yet He didn't only give a
coat, not just a cloak. He laid down His life and robed
those that He died for in the garment of His righteousness.
Look at verse 41. Whosoever shall compel thee to
go a mile, go with him too. We like to complain about the
government. We like to bellyache about the government, especially
when April 15th rolls around and we have to pay taxes. We
don't like to pay somebody else's way. We don't like to think that
our government's just taking all our money and we don't know
what it's going towards and we just see so many that don't even
care to work and we're paying their way. Well, this has to
do with government. the government in this day could
compel you. If they needed your horse, they'd
come take your horse. If they needed your service,
they'd just grab you and put you in the service. Remember
when the Lord, who was it they grabbed to carry the cross of
our Lord? They compelled Him to do it. They didn't ask Him. They just said, here, you're
carrying it. And they had the power to do that. And the Lord
says here, If they compel you to go a mile, go two miles with
them. If they're going to take 20%,
30% of your taxes, give them twice that. Brother Scott Richardson, I remember
he was telling us a story about how he would go to the store
to buy supplies and what have you for the for the church and
somebody kind of kept telling him, Scott, you need to get the
tax number to go up there so you can get a tax write off when
you go up there. He said, I got God. I don't need this world's
favor. But the Lord said, if they compel
you, the government of God was on his shoulder. We complain
about little bitty things, but the law of God compelled him
to pay what was due to God for his people. And he went beyond
by not only paying in full, but he made his people kings and
priests under God. Look at verse 42. It says, Give
to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of
thee, turn not thou away. What has he given to you, brethren? What has He not given to you? We cursed Him and He blessed
us. We hated Him and He did us good. We despitefully used Him and
He ever liveth to make intercession for us. I love this verse in John 1.16,
of His fullness. You talk about a deep fountain.
Of His fullness. Have all we received grace for
grace, free, unmerited, grace upon grace upon grace, out of
His fullness. He says in verse 48 now, Be ye
therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect. You know what Christ Jesus accomplished
for His people by all this that He did? Scripture says, by His
one offering, He perfected forever them that are sanctified. That
means You who have been born of His Spirit, who He even had
to give life to, give faith to, grant repentance to before you
could ever even enter into what all He's done for you. To you,
you're holy and without blame before God Almighty in the Son
of His love. Isn't that amazing? You're accepted
in the beloved Son of God. Accepted by God who will not
allow any deviation from perfect righteousness, perfect holiness. It has to be perfect to be accepted.
I hear people talk about growing in holiness. Would you explain
to me how something can be partly holy? How can something be partly
righteous? There's either righteousness
or not. There's either holiness or not. It's God that justifies. It's
Christ that died. It's Christ that has risen again.
It's Christ that's seated at the right hand of God. It's Christ
who ever liveth to make intercession for His people. And in the Son
of God, we are as perfect as God's own Son. What has He not given you who
trust Him? My little children, these things
write I unto you, John said, that ye sin not. That's what
our Lord's telling us here. Sin not. Don't walk in sin. But John said, and if any man
sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Christ Jesus the
righteous. But he says in verse 6 there
in 1 John, he says, He that saith he abideth in Christ ought himself
also to walk even as he walked. Now, our Lord says here, I say
unto you, this one who did all this for you, this one in whom
you are the perfection of righteousness, this one says unto you, This
is Christ Jesus, the captain of our salvation. This is the
author and finisher of our faith. And He's speaking unto you and
unto me. And He says, Be ye therefore
perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Behold, what manner of love God
hath bestowed upon us, the Father hath bestowed upon us that we
should be called the sons of God. Be ye therefore perfect even
as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Look over to Ephesians 4 and
I'll end with this. I was looking at this this morning
on the way over here and I was thinking about everything our
Lord has said so far in this sermon on the
mount. Everything that He has said. He said He came to fulfill every
jot and tittle of this law. He said, He tells us Be reconciled
to your brother. Agree with your adversary. He
says, Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and
gave Himself for it. He says, Let your yes be yes and your
no, no. Just don't lie to folks. He said,
Here now, Resist not evil give your Other
cheek if you're spitting on the cheek if they see it. I'll give
them a coke cloak They compel you to go a mile go to If anybody
asked you want to borrow from you they wanted you to give them
or borrow give it to them Love up and don't hate anybody Now, if we did that, if we all
did that, who would be smiting on the cheek? Who would consider me an adversary,
or who would I have to consider an adversary? Who would Who would
be in any worry whatsoever that some scoundrel is going to run
off with your wife? If we did this, there's no law
against what he's saying. Isn't it something that we have
to be told to do this? But this is what he says in Ephesians
4, verse 31. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you
with all malice. That's what we are in the flesh.
That's what this old man is. And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another. even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you." We think on that and you think,
oh, I want to do that. This is what Paul said when he
said, this is what I want to do. That's what Paul's talking
about. He said, that which I would,
I don't do it. That's what I want to do. I don't
want to be offended and poke out my chest like I've
got some reason to retaliate. But you know the Scripture says
for us to do these things. Christ tells us to do these things. We read throughout the epistles
that do these things. Be ye tenderhearted, kind one
to another. Just the same way that He tells
us believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Could you believe on
Him without it all being of grace? Neither can you do these things
without it all being of grace. He gives us strength. He renews
us. He gives us that spirit to want
to follow after Him. You've been sitting here listening
to this. as an ambassador for Christ,
as though Christ did beseech you by me. Has He filled your
heart and your spirit to where this makes you think, this is
how I want to be for Him. That's how He gives the grace
to do these things. So, if a brother or a sister
offends you, If they say, or anyone in this world says something
contrary to you, or does something contrary to you, or sues you,
or any of these things, that grace that's given to you right
now, that grace that's given to you right now that's caused
you to want to follow after Christ, that's what you use. That's what
you use to respond to everybody, brother, friend, foe, is the
gospel, the good news. Because it's only this good news
that's going to make him enter in and give somebody grace to
believe, give somebody grace to walk in this manner. But this
poking out our chest and rearing back and giving an eye for an
eye and a tooth for a tooth, That won't do it. That won't
do it. I always tell Will that we like
to watch football, and I always tell him that on the football
field, they get kind of upset with one another, and somebody
will throw a punch. The referee don't ever catch the first guy
that throws the punch. He always catches the second
guy, the guy who rears back and gives it right back. And then
it turns into a big deal. But if you just wouldn't give
that second one back, wouldn't be any more deal, wouldn't be
any penalties called, wouldn't be any more anything else said
about it. That's what Christ says. Don't
resist it. I pray you give us grace to do
that. All right.