Oh, the sweet roar of His love
when He died for me. I can tell the ones who are air-conditioned,
ruined. Spoiled. I'll throw this water on you
if it gets too bad. Sprinkle. All right, Matthew chapter five.
Let's pick up there where we left off. Matthew five. We'll
be finishing this chapter, the Lord willing. Matthew chapter 5. Let's go ahead and read these verses.
Verses 43 through the end of the chapter. You've 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 ye 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 you? 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?
Be ye therefore perfect. even as your Father which is
in heaven is perfect." Now, so much of what we've been studying
in our Lord's sermon on the mountain here has been very convicting. I've listened to your comments
afterward. It has tried my own heart. Very convicting, full
of reproof and rebuke. And our Lord deals with some
very difficult subjects. And we must deal with them. We
can't pass them by because we don't understand them or we don't
like them. God forbid that we would say that, that we don't
like them. But our Lord deals with some
very difficult subjects, some of which we all are guilty of avoiding dealing
with ourselves. You follow me? He is omniscient, so he knows
all, and the Word is said to be a discerner of the very thoughts
and intents of our heart. That's how we can come to the
worship service at times and have something read to us or
preached to us that touches us right at the point where we are
and what we're thinking of. or he was aiming at me," or something
of that sort. But no, that's just the Word
of God dealing with his people. He'll not leave you to yourself,
whether it be whatever you're going through, whatever you're
falling into. The Lord will deal with you where
you are, just like a kind heavenly father does. And in dealing with
the law and the perfect will of God—now listen to me, we've
been dealing with this thing, and it's not It's not easy. It's not easy for me. It's not
easy for you. It's difficult. And it's a very convicting thing.
But in dealing with the law and the perfect will of God Almighty,
we have to remember this. Our Lord has mercifully and graciously
put away our sins. Thank God. Christ came and he
put away our sins by his shed blood. That's what it took. It took an infinite sacrifice
because our sins are against an infinite God. Thank God Christ
came down here and established that righteousness. It's more
than a doctrine. It's the covering of our naked,
black, sinful souls before the all-seeing eye of a holy God.
It's more than a doctrine. The imputed righteousness of
Christ is what keeps God from snuffing us out right now, looking
at us right now because of our wickedness, our thoughts, our
rebellion. There's none that doeth good. No, not one. There's none righteous. From the sole of our feet to
the top of our head, there's no soundness in us. God looked
down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand, any that did seek after God. He said there's
none. And if we know and admit about ourselves, we'll say we're
that way right now, for the most part. We live our lives for ourselves. So the righteousness of Christ
is more than a doctrine. It's what covers us from the
all-seeing eye of a holy God. And I thank God for that. I thank
Christ for coming down here and establishing that righteousness.
And while Christ did that for us, he came down here to save
a people. He came down here with a work
to do, and that was to pay the price that our sins demanded,
that the law of God demanded against our sin. That's death,
blood, without the shedding of blood, which is typical of death,
blood. and to establish a righteousness
that God can accept us and look upon us with favor. And God will
never look upon anything we do, say, think, anything we do apart
from this righteousness, this covering. It's a coat, a cloak
that covers us completely. Now, while Christ did that, that's
why he came. That's the primary reason he
came. While he did that, though, Christ never excuses our sins
nor allows them. And this is what he's dealing
with in Matthew 5, in most of Matthew 5. He never excuses our
sins for us. He pays for them. You understand? He never excuses them, nor does
he allow them in us. He understands, but he doesn't
allow them. He doesn't excuse them. He put
them away, thank God. He put them away. But He deals
with them. Just like we do our own children. We forgive them. We love them.
We have mercy upon them. We're gracious to them. We have
compassion upon them. We forgive them. We forbear with
them. We're long-suffering with them. But we don't excuse. Well, I take that back. That's
where we do differ with the Heavenly Father in it. We do make excuses
for our children and ourselves. The Lord Jesus Christ doesn't
do that. He's too perfect. He's the same God that said he's
of too pure eyes to look upon iniquity. All right? All right. But thank God he remembers
our frame. Psalm 103, 13, one of my favorite
verses. Psalm 103 is one of some of our
favorite psalms. Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. He remembers
our frame. He knows we're just dust and
flesh, and that which is flesh is flesh, and it's weak, it's
frail, it's fallible, and he treats us accordingly, tenderly,
compassionately, as children, just like little children that
we are. And, Helen, you're in your sixties, but, right? Seventy? Seventy-one. You're still a little child before
God Almighty, aren't you? How much do you know? Not much. Not much. How far have you come? How far have you attained? How
far do you feel like you've arrived? Do you feel like you've gone
past the first step? Not really. You're still base.
You're still down there. You're still learning. And He
deals with us as children always. And I remind you, as the Holy
One of God, as the Holy Son of God, the Holy One of God, His
object for us is to make us holy as He is. That's why He came.
Not just to do a legal transaction to make God accept us. but to
make us, literally, make us holy, new creatures. That's what he
was talking about there, John 14 and 15 and 16, about the Comforter. And Paul spoke of it in Romans. But his grand design is to take
these people that he has saved and make them holy as he is,
and someday present them to the Father, holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in God's sight. Right? That's what it's all about. Not to leave us hellions, rebels,
wild child, but to change us, mold us, make us like Himself. That's what the Holy Spirit does.
All right? Now, there's always a word of
comfort. I've already given you plenty of words of comfort about
what Christ did, shedding His blood and imputing that righteousness.
There's always words of comfort for his little children. Always. He said that. That's the express
mandate given to all of his preachers in Isaiah 40, verse 1. Comfort
ye. Comfort ye, my people. That was
his indictment, Henry, against the false prophets back in Jeremiah's
day. You've eaten up my people. You've eaten all of them. You
haven't comforted them. You haven't strengthened them. There's always
a word of comfort for God's little children. from His Word, all
who believe Him. But there's also many words of
conviction, because we are little children. We're spoiled little
brats, and like little children, we're prone to foolishness. It's
just in the way of a child to always be getting into foolishness
and going this way and that way, getting into trouble, right?
So God's Word is full of correction and rebuke. I need it. Do you
need it? I don't despise it. At times
when it really hits me, I think, oh, but I don't despise it. And God forbid that anybody in
here should do that either. If you find yourself convicted
by something the Lord says in the word, no matter where it
is, what it is, if you find yourself convicted by it, you better thank
God for that. He's dealing with you as a child,
not as a pastor. He hasn't left you alone. He
hasn't left you hardened, your conscience seared. But He's convicting
you. He's working on you. Thank God
for that. If you find yourself resenting
or not liking something, get in your closet fast. Be ashamed,
because this is God's Word. This is God's Word. And all I
want to do, all I seek to do, tonight and every night, is just
to bring you what this book is saying. Okay? Bring you what this book is saying.
Now, I've heard some comments as we've dealt with some of these
difficult passages. And they do. They convict. I've
heard comments like this, where is the comfort? Well, I hope sometimes we hear
something and we don't hear other things because something convicts
us so much and we don't hear something else. And I've heard
comments like this, where is the joy of the Lord? Where is
the comfort in this? Particularly like verses twenty
seven through thirty two that we studied a couple of weeks
ago committing adultery and divorce and so forth. And as I've said
there's some of us in here who have been through that. The comfort
was God forgave you. That's fast. There's the comfort. I hope you heard that. But the
word of conviction is don't do it. Don't do it again. The word
of comfort to that woman who was caught in the act of adultery
was, Where are thy accusers? Doth no man accuse thee? No,
Lord, neither do I. Boy, that was the best thing
she'd ever heard in her life, wasn't it? The Lord of glory
said, You're not condemned. I don't accuse you. Your sins
be forgiven. But then he turned around and
he said, Now, go and send them on. Don't do it again, and I'll
deal with you." That's the way a father does,
right? That's the love of a father. All Scripture is profitable.
Paul said to young Timothy, it's all profitable. It's not all
designed to comfort us, is it? God, the Lord, doesn't ever leave
his people, his children, comfortable when they're in error, when they're
in sin. Right? That's reprobacy. If he
leaves us alone, as I said, if something does, if the Word does
not ever convict you, then you've got reason to worry. Right? All right, now take the subject
before us tonight, loving your enemies. I would be more than happy if
someone else would handle this subject, because I fall way,
way short. I have a hard time loving my
brethren, let alone my enemies. How about you? Anybody got a
problem with that? What are we going to do? Just
skip it and let's go on down to chapter six. That's the easy
way out, isn't it? It's extremely difficult. It's
extremely difficult, it's difficult to do, and it's difficult to
teach. But it's something that I find
myself, I find terribly convicting to me. And this is what I have
come to the conclusion of. If something is convicting me,
I guarantee you it's convicting somebody else. I just know it
is. And if I need it, and the best thing for me to do is to
just face it. Whether I can do it or not, or
whether I fully understand it or not, let's get into it. I
got a problem with it. Let's look at it. Let's face
it. Let's deal with it. Let's see
what it's all about. Maybe the Lord will give me the
grace to learn something from it. This is what I need, and
so I should probably doubly consider it. Whatever we need the most
is something we ought to doubly consider. Right? All right. OK, look at verse forty three
now. He said, You've heard that it had been said. Thou shalt
love thy neighbor, who said that? The Lord said that. Right. The Lord, he's the one that made
that. All right, he said, Thou shalt
love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. Now, that's found in Deuteronomy,
chapter twenty three. You don't have to turn there.
I'll just refresh your memory. There were a group of people,
if you remember back when we were studying the tabernacle,
the children of Israel went out of Egypt and they ran into different
groups of people everywhere. They crossed through foreign
hostile land. Some of them were their distant
relatives, Ammon, Moab, you know, different, somehow or another
related to them, supposed to have been their brethren, kinsmen
of some sort. And they passed through, the
children of Israel going through on their pilgrimage passed through,
these people wanted to anyway, and these lands turned them away. They said, don't you come in
here. You can't walk through our land. Go someplace else. And they threatened them. And
the Moabites, the Ammonite, they turned them away. So God didn't
spare those people. He didn't spare the Moabites,
the Ammonites, and the different people that the children of Israel
faced. If they had been kind to them, the Lord wouldn't have
destroyed them. He's not that way. He's not that
way. So he told his people, he told
his people, don't you spare them. When you see one and when you
come into the country, if they're there, kill them all. Law is there? Well, this is a
picture. It's typical of false religion. All right, this is a picture.
It's a spiritual picture of false religion with its idols and it's
God hating prophets and priests and people. They hate the true
God and the true people of God. And there's a very real sense
in which we are to hate all false religion, right? Because we love
God, David said it. He said, I hate every false way,
didn't he? Thy law do I love, therefore
I hate every false way. And we're to hate all false religions
because, Henry, it brings dishonor to our God. It weakens the gospel. It blasphemes
the name of our God. And we're to hate it, right?
Catholicism is a a hateful and odious religion to me, that all
of its idolatry and its priesthood and its superstitions. And that's
just one of many. Methodism is the same. It's no
different to me. What goes under the name of Presbyterians
today, all of these so man-made denominations, most of them anyway,
some part of all of them, are full of idolatry. and paganism
and traditions and superstitions and false religion. And I hate
it. I hate it all. I hate every false
way. And just like Paul said in Galatians
1, if any man, I don't care who it is, an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel, then the gospel of God's sovereign
grace in Christ, full, free, effectual, finished redemption
in Jesus Christ And Jesus Christ alone, he is all and in all. He's our surety. He's our high
priest. He's our mediator, the only mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus, our only substitute, our only high
priest. He's our advocate. He's all.
Anything that adds to or diminishes that, I hate it. And I'll stand
up against it. All right? And even those who
perpetuate that. even people who perpetuate these
lies. All right? That's what David
said in Psalm 139. I quote it to you quite often.
If you want to turn, you can. But he said in verse 21 of Psalm
139, he said, Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? Am not
I greed with those that rise up against thee? Now I've read
all kinds of fellas on our text tonight, Gil, Henry, Arthur Pink,
who I hold in high esteem, and Arthur Pink is as close or better
than the rest of them, but even he missed it, I think, I believe,
I'm certain of it. David plainly said here he hated
some people, didn't he? Mr. Pink said that, no, this
was just what they do. It's not the people, it's what
they do. Now, that's not what David said here, is it? Look
at it. He said, Do not I hate them,
O Lord, that hate thee? And am not I grieved with those
that rise up against thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred. I count them my enemies. How
are you going to twist that around? That's the people. Now, before
we give ourselves an excuse to run out and call them fire from
heaven on people. Our text is going to set us straight
about it. Look at the text again. Christ
says, now you've heard that said, thou shalt love thy neighbor
and hate thine enemy. I just showed you how that was
a spiritual type, the children of Israel. That was a spiritual
type, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the enemies of God's people,
a spiritual type of false religion and those who perpetuated or tried to spread it throughout
the land. Verse 44, Christ says, I say
unto you, love your enemies. Love your enemies. Bless them
that curse you. you do good to them that hate
you pray for them, which despitefully use you and persecute you. Whose
enemies is talking about? Whose enemies is this talking
about? Our enemies, right? This is who he's talking about
here. Love your enemies, John Davis. Not God's enemies, your
enemies. Do good to them that spitefully
use You. Not God. You. Right? There's a big difference, isn't
it? I'm surprised these men didn't catch this. He said this over
and over again, didn't he? You. Your enemy. Bless them that
curse you. Not God. Are we going to bless
a man that curses God? Well, God forbid. Paul sure didn't. Do good to them that hate you.
Love them that hate you. Hate God? No, I hate them that
hate thee, David said in Psalm 139, didn't he? Do good to them
despitefully, use you. Pray for them which despitefully
use you. Despitefully use God for their
own wicked ways, for their own gain, greed, and make merchandise
of men's souls, and so forth, and bring down the glory and
honor of God. No, me. Is that clear, John? Do good to them that persecute
You. You. All right. But I've still got a problem.
I still have a real problem with this, even to you. Anybody? Because I love me. I just be honest. Anybody want
to admit it tonight? Confess your faults? I love me.
You're lying if you say you don't. Yeah, you are. Now, I hate me. This is the paradox of the belief.
Now, I hate me, everything about me, but I love me, and I'll try
to save my skin at the expense of yours. Maybe, unless the grace
of God's really in me. I have a real hard time with
loving my enemies. I have a real hard time with
loving some people who claim to be my friends. I shamefully
admit, and I'm going to make some... I wish everybody could
get up here once in a while I spill my guts to you every Wednesday
and Sunday, and I'm going to keep doing it anyway. I've got
nothing to hide, almost nothing. I shamefully admit that I'm the
world's worst skeptic when it comes to people, or one of them
anyway. I know a couple in here that
are just as skeptical of people, just as cynical. You know, you hear him talk.
You just see him. You look at him. He ain't no
believer. He ain't nothing to him. Anybody
got the slightest little bit of that in them? Pessimist. Wary
of people. What's he? He's going to get
me. He's out to get me. Standoffish. Back off from people. Suspicious
of them. Are you? Anybody? Cynical? You know what that is? You know
what that spirit is? There's only one word for that. Anytime you
meet somebody, you don't know anything about them, and you
just hear a few things and you make a rapid judgment about somebody
immediately, and you're skeptical, you're cynical, you're pessimistic,
you just write them off. You know what that is? Just one
big word that explains that. Five-letter word. Pride. It's all that is. But the command
is very clear. Love thy neighbor. Isn't it? Love thy neighbor. Well, who
is my neighbor? Well, I guarantee he's probably
an Armenian. I don't care which side he is
on you. He's probably an Armenian. Right? Love thy neighbor, that's what
they asked the Lord. Who is my neighbor then? And the Lord gave
them an example of a man they all hated worse than him, a Samaritan,
a half-breed. Right? Oh, anything but that,
you know. Give us an example, a parable
of anybody but a Samaritan. Didn't he, John? Love your neighbor. Now, I have a hard enough time
doing that. Loving the boy next door, the guy next door. Him
and his dog. But the commandment keeps coming.
Love your enemy. About all I can say right there
is, Lord, help me. Don't you? Lord, increase our
faith. That's what disciples, when they
got convicted at the time, when they were just... Peter always
had something to say. Every time the Lord says, well,
I'll do this. He had to answer a question or something. Well,
I'll go over here. I'll do this. Well, what about this Lord? What
about Him? And finally, there's times when the Lord says something,
and it even stopped old Peter's mouth. When the Lord says something
that'll stop some of our mouths, boy, we better listen to Him. And Peter, those boys threw up
their hands at times and just said, you've got to increase
our faith. We need help. Like they're backed up in a corner,
you know, no place else. Help. Help. Lord, increase our faith. Lord,
increase thy grace. Thy grace. You said you'd give
more grace. I need to eat more of it now. Right, Joe? Eat more of it. Lord, help me.
Why are we to do this? He says, love your neighbor,
love your enemy. Why are we to do this? Why does
the Lord tell us to do this? What is the motive? What is his motive? What is to
be our motive? Why are we to do this? Well,
he says so, for one reason. The law is God's word. But that's
not our motive, even though... I don't want to confuse you here. It is our duty, because he said
so. It's a mandate. The king never
gives requests, does he? Whatever he says, do it. But
that's not the motive, and that's not going to make you love anybody,
is it? Well, he said, I have to, so
I will. Right? That won't make you love
that person, will it? Not at all. Look at verse 45. Here's what will do it. "...that
you 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." As children of God, children
of God who is merciful and gracious and loving to His enemy. God loves His enemies. Now, let's not make this say
what it does not say. All right? We dare not make this
say what it does not say, that God loves all. man, that God
loves all his enemies. It does not say that. It doesn't
even say God loves his enemies here, does it? It just talks
about sin and sin and rain, right? You're going to run into some
people who want to deal with this. This is going to help you, all right,
if you listen to me. It doesn't even say God loves his enemies
right here. He says he's sending the rain,
the sun on them, just and unjust. The unjust just happen to be
there where the just were. All right? He sends the rain
upon the unjust. Verse forty-eight says he's perfect. That is, he's complete. He's
pure. He's holy. He's fair. He's right. Do what's right, and this is
the reason we should never, ever question God's providence in
anything. He'll do exactly what's right. What about these starving
kids? He'll do what's right. He's going to do what's right.
He's too good to do evil. He's too wise to do wrong. He
will do what's right, and he'll deal justly with every single
human being. All right? Now, I listened as
a man one time, a friend of mine. Listen, as he argued with this
passage, he argued for the universal love of God for all men without
exception. Based upon this passage, all
right? You ever heard anybody use this? Well, you will. You will. And this man's no dummy.
He's a preacher. It does not say here that God
loves all his enemies, does it? Nor does it even imply that.
Look over at Romans chapter 5 with me. Romans chapter 5. It does
not say that God loves all his enemies, and it does not even
imply that. God does love some of his enemies. OK? But they don't stand. Look at
Romans 5 verse 1. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not
only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation
works with patience. Patients experience hope, and
hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Any
doubt who he's talking about? He's talking about believers,
right? God's chosen people. Now, verse 6, "...when we were
yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Scarcely for a righteous man
will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commended his love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
much more than, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies,
were enemies, we were reconciled, loved, given to Christ by the
death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be
saved by his life." Another one, Ephesians 2. You know this one
by heart, but look at it again. You see, we were his enemies,
and he loved us, didn't he? Did he love us in our enmity? Did he love us in our rebellion?
God's too holy, Joe, he can't love a rebel. Oh, no, he loves things that
are holy, just, good, righteous. Considered in Christ, he always
loved us, though. even while we were yet enemies.
Ephesians 2, you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sin, wherein in time past you walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince, for the power of the
air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversation in time past, the
lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh, of
the mind, were by nature children of wrath, even as others. who
is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved all
sinners, all his enemies, us. Us. Right? So you love your enemies
because God loved his enemies. Who was his enemy? You see the motive now? Do you
need a better motive? Love your enemies, because God
loved his enemies, which was you, and you, and you. Right? There's the motive. Because God, for Christ's sake,
loved us, we're to do the same. And we don't have. I appreciated
so much Brother Walter Gruber's message on the divine command. Go ye in all the world and preach
the gospel. I appreciated so much his comments, his compassion
and concern for people. I wish I had more of that. We
ought to because we don't have God's omniscience. We don't.
Even no matter what men, well, to a degree, what men say around
us, we don't have perfect understanding yet, do we? And we can't just
write a man off like that. And we do that so often. We don't
have that omniscience. But even if he is a heretic,
it says at least give him two or three admonitions, right? Even if he is a heretic. Most
are, so were we. And one more thing about this
passage in reference to God's love. We shouldn't confuse, and
this man argued this with me, and you'll hear this, too. We
should not confuse God's benevolence with love. You know what benevolence
is? You all know what the word benevolence
means? It means act of kindness. It means just being compassionate
and just doing good, being kind to somebody, a little cup, you
know, a handout, a little act of charity here and there. Don't
confuse that benevolence with God's love. Don't hook the words
together here. And this fellow was trying to
say that they meant one and the same thing. It's not true. Even
God's benevolence is sovereign. That's what I told this fellow.
Even the benevolence, the kindness of God is sovereign. I'll illustrate. There's some kids over in Ethiopia
right now. I'm talking six months old, younger,
older, different children who have not sinned at the similitude
of Adam's transgression. They're dying. They don't have
anything to eat. He said he sends a rain on the
just and the unjust. They're not getting any rain.
This is the reason they're starving. They're not getting any rain.
Where's the benevolence of God? I'm not being smart aleck. I'm
just stating a fact, right? You can't confuse that with love.
Even that's sovereign, Rick, isn't it? God will be benevolent
to whom he'll be benevolent. And whatever else he decides,
he'll withhold it. He's God. But he'll do what's
right, Joe. And because we can't understand
this, we can't, men can't reconcile. They've got a warped sense of
God's love anyway. They think it's this silly, sentimental
love that we have, you know. Conditional and so forth. Pity,
pitiful love and all that. They've got such a warped sense
of that love they can't reconcile what's happening to starving
babies, what happens to so-called good people when they suffer
this and that. Cancer, you know, and this and
that and the other. Can't reconcile the love of God
with that. Consequently, they either believe some absolute
heresy or they don't believe anything at all. Right? Child of God just says, it's
the Lord. Tell him to do what he will. He'll do what's right. If he sends me to heaven, I'll
thank him, praise him forever. If he sends me to hell, I've
had it coming. Right? I don't want to go there,
Joe. I don't want to go there. If
he sends us rain, what a blessing. Water out of the skies, thank
you, Lord. If he doesn't, if he dries it
up, we all start starving. It's the Lord. Lord gave, Lord
take away his reign. He can do what he wants, and
he will. You see, God's ways are past
finding out. And he said they're not our ways. Right? And we'll reach a time,
we'll reach a point when we talk to people about this very subject,
and we'll try and try to explain what we can. When it comes down
to it, the bottom line is, God's God. Who art thou, O man, that
replies against God?" Right? I don't think it's fair. God
doesn't love... Well, you better think it's fair, because that's
what God's Word says. He hates some people. He loves
some people. So be it. Don't let it be written. Don't let it be done. God's Word. Just bow to it, every bit of
it. Now, the principle our Lord is setting forth, and I won't
keep you much longer about it. The principle our Lord is setting
forth. I want you to say this. The only thing, you know, people
make a blanket statement, God loves everybody. Sing that. I'll
tell you what you can say about God in a blanket statement. It'll
cover it all. God's holy. Catch it. Whatever
God does is holy. You can't say whatever God does,
He does it in love. No, whatever God does is holy. You can make that blanket statement.
God will be holy toward you, Joe Park, toward you, Steve.
God will be holy. He'll be just. He will. He may not love you, but He'll
be holy upon you. He may not forgive you, but He'll
be holy. Right? He may not have mercy upon you,
He does have mercy, thank God, but he'll be holy. He'll be holy
when everything's burnt to a crisp, even if there's no man standing
there. God will still be God, and he'll be holy. And who cares
if there's a man anyway? Well, he won't. God's holy. That's the only blanket statement
we can make about God Almighty. We can't say God just loves.
That's lying. That's bearing false witness
against God. Can't say God's willing to save every man. If
He is, He'll do it. Not willing, then He should perish.
If He's not willing, He'll do it. None will perish, because
God's will will be done. God will be holy and just and
right. The principle our Lord is setting
forth here now toward us, talking about us, is this new nature. I know you're hot, I'm hot too.
This new nature, this new creature in Christ, a regenerated heart,
it produces God-likeness. If it's not producing that, it's
not there. If it's not producing that, it's
not there. And our Lord was comparing that,
beginning all the way back in this chapter, comparing that
with the Pharisees who had an outward show of religion. or
in tight, they would be like the religious people today who
have been baptized, who go to church like us sitting right
here, who dress the part, look the part, act the part. Good,
decent, moral, upstanding citizens, religious people. Done all the
right thing. Went on the inside, nothing there. Empty. And Christ set that principle
forth back in the beginning of this chapter, except you, except
you got a new principle working within you, a new creature in
Christ imparted to you on the inside, a regenerated heart and
life on the inside that bears fruit. And we read that through
John 14, 15 and 16, didn't we? 13, 14, 15. He said, unless that's
coming out, it's not there and you won't be there in the end. That's plain enough, isn't it?
All right, now look at verses 46 and 47. If you love them which
love you, what reward have you? Don't even the publicans do the
same? If you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the publicans so?
Oh, Arthur Pink really brought out some good things on that
one line, though. What do you more than others? You stop and just Let that hit
you between the eyes. What do you more than others? What are you doing differently
than Joe Blow that belongs down to the Catholic place or the
Church of the Brethren or the Dunkard? What distinguishes you? That's what Pete brought out.
Boy, it slayed me, slew me. Well, verses 46 and 7, he says,
you love them that love you. If you salute those that salute
you. What does that matter? There
are different characteristics that pass for love, but it's
not the love he's talking about. There's compassion. Compassion,
even wicked people have some compassion every now and then.
Right? Even wicked people have some
compassion every now and then. Then there's this principle that's
in nature, in our nature. Some people are milder and gentler
and more tender and sensitive to other people. It's just some
people have different natures, right? Because this person is
so, well, I don't use me, but there are some people that are
real sensitive that cry easily. But I'll just be honest with
you, I can see a handicapped person, it just breaks my heart.
Does that mean, is that the love of God shed upon my heart? No,
there's plenty of people like that, that don't know God nor
care for God, right? There's plenty of people out
there doing acts of benevolence and showing kindness and compassion.
There's different natures that God gives to different people,
okay? Then there's a natural affection.
that people have for their families and their kin. There's husbands
out there who don't know God, who love their wives, or appear
to. They're good husbands, good fathers. I've known some people
now. And you ought to know some people
now. There's people who love their
families, love their wives, their husbands, their children, their
mothers, their fathers. But that's not the love of God.
That's not the love He's talking about here. And God didn't pattern
his love after the love of a mother. You've seen that silly blasphemy
along about Mother's Day, you know? About nine out of ten pulpits
quote that, don't they? Now, you've heard them. I've
heard them. God patterned his love after the love of a mother.
God has no mother. His love was around a long time
before there was the thought of a mother. Eternity passed. It's not the love of God. The
love of a mother? I challenge the love of a mother. Do all mothers love their children?
No. And it says in the last days
that will cease too. And I see it happening now. I see it happening now. Listen
to this. He said, Lord, here's the love of God. He said, Can
a woman forget her second child that she should not have compassion
on the son of her womb? That's unthinkable. How could
a mother do that? They'll do it. They'll take a coat hanger
and rip that baby out of their belly. Right. You mothers, those of you who've
had children, didn't you feel that love and that? I mean, the
minute that life was in your belly, Mary. You felt there's
something that comes over you in motherhood. I can't explain
that. You mothers can. How could a
woman just take it out without thinking about it? Without giving
up on it? Christ said they'll do it. And
they'll do it to a one-year-old, a two-year-old, a three-year-old.
They'll kick it out. They'll throw it in the trash
can. They'll give it to an adoption agency, or either they'll go
and pursue this world with all the gusto they can get and leave
that baby without what it needs the most. You see it happening more and
more. Here's the love of God. He said they may do that. I won't
do it. I won't forget the love of God,
the love of Christ. The love Christ speaks of here
is a holy love. Look at it again. He says in
verse 48, Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is
in heaven is perfect. Now this means whole. The love
of God shed abroad in the heart. We read that in Romans 5. The
love of God shed abroad in the heart. Let me explain this real
quickly. Talk about spiritual love, the
love of Christ. reproduced in the heart of his
people, and it makes them love the unlovely. This is contrary
to our nature. It makes them love the unlikely. It makes them love their opposites. If some of us, if we didn't have
the gospel as a tie that binds us, we wouldn't even be friends. I'm sure you'd say the same thing
about me. I don't love that big mouth. I don't like to be around
him. But the gospel, the love of God shed abroad in a man's
heart, will do that. It will turn two opposites into
bosom buddies and friends. And above all, it will make them
love their enemies. And it's the only true love in
the world today, the only true love. It's holy love, the love
of God, the love of Christ. And it's there in every single
child of God. Not in perfection, but it's there
in principle. Stay with me just a minute. The
reason we get so convicted about this is because we don't feel
it like we want to. We don't see it manifest itself
like we want to, but it's there. Others see it. By this shall
all men know you're my disciple. They'll know it. You may not
feel that way. That's a good sign. Like I said
at the very beginning, if it convicts you, God's working on
you. But other people will see that, won't they? They'll see
it. And it's the only love, this
is the only love in the world that will keep a marriage together,
keep children loving their parents, keep parents loving their children.
keep people loving people. It's got to be in one of those
people or the other. If it's not there, it'll fail. It'll fail. And I know there
are exceptions. I know there are exceptions.
There are people who seem to be in love out there. Marriages
where neither one of them seem to be believers. I'm glad, aren't
you? I'm glad. I'm glad God restrains
some people. I'm glad God constrains some
people. I don't like divorce. I don't
care who it is, believer or unbeliever. I don't like violence and hatred
and all that. But just take marriage just for
one minute. Just take this thing of marriage and true love. Only when a man or a woman or
both become like Jesus Christ, only then Will they start loving
each other the way they're supposed to love one another? Sacrificially? I mean, you do without, so they'll
just have. Only when the love of God is
shed abroad in the heart. Only when the love of God is
in the heart will they be more forgiving and forbearing as the
time goes by. Instead of start heaping up irreconcilable
differences, those differences start getting less. You start
compromising, don't you? You start compromising. You start
forgiving, forbearing, not piling up. There's another one. I've
got ten more and you're out of here. No, you erase. You start erasing them, don't
you? Only with this kind of love will you be more tolerant, more
tolerant, more long-suffering, more humble. As you realize God's
love for you and how He puts up with you, you start, well,
that's the least I could do is put up with her or him. And only with the love of Christ
will you become more servile, servile. And this is the only
way. You know, marriage is really going to last when you start
serving that other one. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the church. How'd he do that? He gave himself. Women, submit yourself to your
husband. Why? Christ did. Christ submitted
himself to the church to serve her. Serve her. And he submitted
to that authority of God Almighty. And only as this grows and grows,
in a person as they grow up in Him, to know Him in all things. Only then will it last. Everything
else is going to fade away. It's going to pass away. So He
says, Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Be complete.
Be whole. Be mature. Be holy. Be just. Be merciful. Be gracious.
Be loving in all your dealings with all men. Well-rounded. But be toward others like your
Heavenly Father is toward you. Everybody. And I need that. Boy, do I need that. Because I just haven't arrived.
I'm not even anywhere close to the way I want to be. I'm ashamed
of myself. I'm ashamed of myself. It brings
reproach upon the gospel when so-called believers are mean-spirited
and stuck-up and, you know, unloving people. By this shall all men
know you're my disciple. Yet love one to another. And
he didn't stop there. He said, Love your neighbor,
love your enemy. Be perfect like your Father.
Alright, stand with me. Dear Lord, increase our faith. Help us, Lord. Give more grace. Your grace is sufficient. It's
the only thing that will help us. So we ask for more of it,
much more of it. We fall way short of the glory
of God, and that is keeping Christ's commandments, doing as He says.
We fall way short. We're so thankful for the blood
of Christ That's salvation for his surety ship. But Lord, we're
sure ashamed of ourselves, and we want to be changed. We want
to be made like Christ. So mold us, make us, shape us,
conform us to his blessed image, and teach us, Lord, to love as
you've loved us for your glory, for your honor. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.