Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. We call this first service of
Sunday morning our Bible study. Some people refer to it as Sunday
school. And it's a time that we have
especially reserved for teaching. And then, the second service
of the morning, we call it our message. And it's a time that
we have especially reserved for preaching. And it can be really hard to
tell the difference in the two. It can be really, really tough.
When I first asked my dad to speak for us, I told him, I said,
I don't, because he was going to be here this morning and tonight,
I said, I don't know if I'll have you do the Bible study in
the evening or the morning message in the evening. He said, doesn't
matter to me. It's going to be the same message either way. And I said,
well, I get that. And the reason it's so difficult
to tell the two apart is because we don't really do any preaching
without teaching. And we don't do any teaching
without preaching. We just don't, they go hand in
hand. But if we want to get our minds
around the difference in the two and why we even decipher
the two, this is the best way I know to describe it. Preaching
is declaring what the Word of God has to say about Christ. If we're gonna preach, the Apostle
Paul said, we preach Christ. If any man's gonna speak and
preach, we're gonna preach Christ. And teaching is declaring what
the Word has to say to us in light of Christ. This Word has
something to say to us in light of everything that it has to
say about Him. We preach Christ's work and Christ's
salvation, and we don't preach man's work and man's salvation. We preach that Christ started
it. and Christ finished it, and Christ
gets all the glory for it. And we preach that salvation
is most definitely not by works of righteousness which man has
done. It's just not. Man didn't start
it. Man didn't finish it. Man has
not done anything worthy of getting any glory in it at all. No glory at all. Salvation is
of the Lord. That's the message we preach.
Salvation is of the Lord. But because salvation is of the
Lord, because it pleased the Lord to
make some sinners to be his people, because we have been washed in
his blood and adopted into his family, all because we belong
to Him. We teach what He has to say to
those who have been made to be His people. Just like I teach
my own two children, all right, I teach my own two children how
I want them to be. And I don't do that so that they
can be my children. I do that because they are my
children. I don't go around to other people's children and instruct
them on how I want them to be and act. I probably have an opinion
about it, but I don't go up to other people's children and instruct
them, this is how I want you to be. I do that to my children
because they're my children. And our Lord does the exact same
thing. He has given us instruction on how He wants us to be because
we are His children. And He's given us some very clear
instruction at the end of Matthew 5 here. This whole Sermon on
the Mount, this is just wonderful, beautiful instruction. And this is what I wanna say
about it, all right? God has told us right here, what he wants
us to do. And I want to be so clear about
this. I want to be so clear about this. He has told us, this is
what I want you to do. This is how I want you to be.
If we belong to Christ, and that's the key. If we belong to Christ,
and think about what that means. If he bought us, and we're his. If we belong to Christ, and if
we don't do this, we will still be saved. And it's because our salvation
is based on His work and not ours. It's based on His success, in
this word, and not our failure, in this word. Just like if my
two children disobeyed me, they do. I did, they do. If they disobey me, they're not
gonna lose my DNA. They're just not. It will not
and it cannot be said that they are no longer my biological children. That just can't be. Their disobedience
or obedience, it has no bearing on whether or not they belong
to me. That was determined. Them belonging to me was determined
before they were ever even born into this world. But if they
disobey me, they will bring my chastisement down on them. And
if we belong to Christ, our union with him. That was ordered and
settled before we were ever born. But whom the Lord loves, he chastens. And that's if you want to get
our mind around, I shouldn't be doing that. Well, thank God
we're not going to lose our salvation. You have men stand up in pulpits
and put people under bondage saying, you will lose your salvation.
No, you won't. Jesus Christ said, I have kept
them and they are being kept by the power of God. They're
in my hand, and Father, I'm in your hand, and no man is able
to pluck them out. But the Word says don't murder
somebody, and if you do, you got some earthly consequences
you're gonna have to suffer. There are some earthly judgments
and payments that are gonna have to be made. And our Lord, whom
He loves, He corrects, and He chastens, and He disciplines
His children. And if we would like for His
chastening to not come down on us, we would be wise to listen
to his instruction and do it. For a long time, honestly, when
I first started really entering into, we're not, this is not
by man's works. You know, the first thing, first
thing that God's people are accused of is being antinomian, which
means you just don't believe anything. You don't have to do
anything. Just nothing matters. That's not so. Our Lord is clear
on these things. But if we do these things or
don't do these things based on his word, we will suffer earthly
consequences for him, not eternal. Thank God. But we will suffer
earthly consequences. And so I want to learn this.
I want to go through the rest of these verses. And if the Lord
is willing, I want to both teach them and preach them. We're going
to. Teach them and preach them. And
when I tell you that I pray the Lord will teach me this, I mean
it. I sincerely mean it. I'll go
ahead and confess to you. I have been personally convicted
over this Bible study. The Lord has really dealt with
me and I pray the Lord will deal with all of us and help all of
us. The last time that we were here in Matthew 5, we looked
at the verses that talked about the sin that we commit. He said, you know you're not
supposed to kill, but if you get angry with somebody, you're
gonna go before the judgment. He said, you know you're not
supposed to commit adultery, but if you lust in your heart, you
have. And he went on down these sins
that we commit. This morning, we're gonna look
at the verses that talk about sin that is committed against
us. All right, verse 38, Matthew
5, verse 38. You have heard that it hath been
said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. That's the law. All right. If we were to look
it up, if we were to go to the old Testament, go back to Exodus,
Leviticus, Deuteronomy, we would read. That's what the law says. That's the law that was given
to Moses and I for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But because Christ satisfied
the law, would he encourage us to disobey the law? Absolutely
not. but because he fulfilled the law and satisfied the law
and because he is the end of the law for righteousness. He
said in verse 39, but I say unto you, you know, that's what the
law says, but I say unto you that you resist not evil, but
whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, Turn to him
the other also. That's how God wants his children
to be. He said, if somebody literally
smites you on one cheek, turn and give him the other one. That
is not what the flesh, that's not the response of the flesh.
Most men will tell their son, if somebody hits you, you pop
them back. And that's what we naturally
want to do. But our Lord said, this is what our Lord said. He
said, if somebody smites you on your cheek, you offer him
the other one. Don't fight back. Don't bow up in pride. Don't
take matters into your own hands. Leave it in the hands of the
Lord who is the righteous judge. Leave it in the hands of the
Lord and he will execute vengeance on your behalf. This is what
he said. He said, vengeance is mine. I will repay. He will execute vengeance on
your behalf, but do not take matters into your own hands.
All right, that's teaching. Here's some preaching. If we
want the ultimate example of that, all we have to do is envision
our Lord standing there before Pilate while those soldiers,
one by one, took turns striking him in the face. You know that
if they've ever hit somebody, they were giving it all they
had, one by one, one by one, smiting him in the face. What
did he do? And this is God we're talking
about. What did he do? This is what he did. He opened
not his mouth. When he was reviled, he reviled
not again. but committed himself to him
that judgeth righteously. That's what he did. He did that
for our sake. So he said, verse 38, you have
heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth, but I say unto you that you resist not evil, but
whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him
the other also. And if any man will sue thee
at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak
also. If any man sues you, if you're
ever sued or any woman sues you for anything, this is what the
Lord says, let them have it. And this is what our response
will be. No, then I won't have it. I have it. And if they take
it from me, then they'll have it and I won't have it. All I can do is declare the word
of God because I get that feeling. I understand that feeling. Like
that's exactly how I would feel. All I can do is set myself to
the side and declare the word of God. This is what God said.
Just give it. Just give it. This is what he
also said. Give. And it shall be given unto you,
pressed down, shaken together shall men. I love my children
so much. And if somebody took something
from them and they bore it patiently, don't you think that I would
repay and repay and repay? If it was in my power to do so.
He said, you just give it and it'll be given to you. If somebody
sues you and takes something from you, they're gonna be the
loser. They really are. They're gonna
be the loser. God is gonna deal with that person
for suing you. And I wanna make this really
clear. I'm thankful for lawyers. I don't
mean to disrespect that profession at all. I was so glad we had
a lawyer when we just closed on our building so it could be
documented, let everybody know that's ours. We needed a lawyer
for that. And I realized that things happen
and all that kind of stuff. But based on the word of God,
based on the scripture, suing someone is against the commandment
of God to his people. It's against the instruction
of the word. And it's not how God wants his people to handle
things. And this is the reason why it
says one of two things. It says, either it says, I don't
trust how God is going to handle this. It's taken matters into
our own hands. And it's either saying, I don't
trust how God's going to handle this. Or it says, I don't like
how God has handled this. That was the judgment, and I
just don't like how he handled it. So let me show you this. This is important for us to see
and me not to just say this. Go with me to 1 Corinthians 6.
1 Corinthians 6 verse 1, it says,
dare any of you having a matter against another go to law before
the unjust and not before the saints? Do you not know that
the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged
by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know you
not that we shall judge angels How much more things that pertain
to this life? If then you have judgments of
things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least
esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it
so that there is not a wise man among you? No, not one that shall
be able to judge between his brethren. but brother goeth to
law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. Now, therefore,
there is utterly a fault among you because you go to law one
with another. Watch the end of this verse.
He said, why do you not rather take wrong? Why do you not rather
suffer yourselves to be defrauded? He said, why would you not just
take it patiently and suffer the wrong that's done to you? That's what God commands of us.
And here's what I want us to understand in it. That's what
God blesses. We all want the blessing of the
Lord. And that's what he blesses. Verse eight said, nay, you do
wrong and defraud and that your brethren. So let's just ask the
Lord to give us the faith to trust him. Let's ask the Lord
to give us the faith to trust Him and to trust what He brings
to pass, to trust His will and to trust His purpose in it. And
let's ask Him to give us the grace, both the faith and the
grace to be willing to let everything go. If they sue us, it's probably
gonna go. Lord, give me the faith and give
me the grace to trust You and to let it go. That's what you'd
have for me? That must be the best, must be
the best thing. If somebody does sue us for our
coat, Lord, give me the grace to give my cloak also. All right, what is the greatest
example of that the world has ever known? They stripped our
Lord of His seamless robe. They stripped him and they hung
him on the cross of Calvary. What did he do in return? To
the very people who did that to him, the very ones that cast lot for
his coat, this is what he did in return. He suffered the wrong. And He covered them in His spotless
robe of righteousness. They took that seamless covering
that He was wearing at the time, and they hung Him naked on that
cross. And from that cross, He said,
Father, forgive them. And what He was saying is, cover
them in my blood, robe them in my righteousness. They don't
know what they're doing. They don't know what they're
doing. They've stripped me of my coat. Father, give them the
robe of my righteousness too. All right, go with me back to
Matthew 5. Verse 40, it says, If any man will sue thee at the
law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain."
He said, if somebody asked you to go one mile, go two with them. Do more. I want to learn this. I really want to learn this.
Do more, do above and beyond what is asked of you. And we'll
give a little illustration here and. And I hope it is a good one.
When I first moved here, that piano needed to be tuned desperately,
badly, badly. So I called a piano tuner and
I asked him, you know, how much do you charge to tune a piano?
He said, well, it's $105. But he said, I knocked 20 off
for churches. I'll do it for churches for $85. And I said,
okay, come on over and tune it. Well, I got to thinking about
it, and I thought, I don't want to be lumped in with all the
other churches in town. I don't want a handout. You know,
everybody's, what's the cheapest you can get? Now, we're a church
now. I didn't want to have anything to do with that. So I asked Brother
Tony, I said, can we just pay him the 105, just pay him the
regular amount? And he said, well, let's make
it 125. Rather than taking 20 off, let's add 20 to it. I said,
sounds good to me. So that's what we did. And may
the Lord honestly teach us Do more. Do more. Do more. May God's people be
big tippers. Really. That's grace. That's kindness. Our Lord wants His people to
do more. What's the ultimate example of
that? Where our sin abounded, Christ's grace much more abounded. He didn't just pay what we owed
to the penny. That's how I used to have it
in my brain. You know, well, this is what
we owed and thank God, this is what he paid. And it blessed
my heart so much when I found out that's not what he did. He
did not pay our debt to the penny. He most certainly did not. This
is what he said, you cry to my people. He said, you stand up
and tell them that their warfare is accomplished and their iniquity
is pardoned and they have received of the Lord's hand double for
all their sins. He said, you tell them that I
have done exceeding abundantly above all that they have asked
and even thought. He said, I haven't just pardoned,
I've abundantly pardoned. The payment I've made is so above
and beyond, they'll never have to worry about their debt ever
again. So verse 41, it says, whosoever shall compel thee to
go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh of thee. And from him that would borrow
of thee, turn not thou away. He said, if a man comes to you
asking of anything, don't turn him away. Don't turn him away. Thank God, Christ said, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me, I will in no wise cast out. In no wise. I will not turn him
or her away. I won't do it. Verse 43, you have heard that
it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine
enemy. 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. 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. For if you love
them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans
the same? And if you salute your brethren
only, what do you more than others? Do not even the publicans so? Every person here has somebody
who you consider to be an enemy. Every person here. And I'm not
talking about you being against them. I'm talking about them
being against you. Ask God to give you the grace
to love that person. You know, we have people that
we have had bad attitudes toward. May the Lord, David said, see
if there'd be a wicked way in me and get it out of me, lead
me in the way everlasting. But those who just, you just
can't make amends with them and they just, let's ask the Lord to give us
the grace to love those people. Let's ask the Lord if He will
do that for us. Lord, give me the grace to actually
pray for that person, not just my children, not just my brethren,
that person. Christ came to save sinners,
sinners against God. Let's ask the Lord to let us
be toward that person what Christ was and is toward us. We were His enemies. We were
His enemies. The scripture says we hated Him. It says we despised Him. It says we rejected Him. Rejected Him. No, I will not
have Him. We hid as it were our faces from
him. We esteemed him not, but he loved
us. And he gave himself for us. And in the process, this is what
he did. He won us to himself. We love him now. We love him. And it's all because he first
loved us. That's the whole reason. It's
because he first loved us. May God put that heart and that
spirit in us toward those who are just dead set on being our
enemies. I pray God will have mercy on
me and that person too. There's no difference, but for
the grace of God, there's no difference in any of us. So may the Lord do that, may
He, let's ask Him to do that. Our Lord said, if you ask a good
thing in my name, I'll give it to you. Lord, would you please
put grace in my heart to love, pray for, forgive? Verse 48,
be ye therefore perfect, and what that means is mature. It
means spiritually mature. Be ye therefore perfect, even
as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Lord, conform us
to your image. That's what we're needing and
looking for. As you are, make us to be that
for Christ's sake. Please make us to be that. We
will be that soon in glory, once sin is removed from us. Lord,
help us now. Help us to... become more and
more conformed into that image now. All right, you're dismissed.