Let's turn in your Bible to Matthew
chapter five. Matthew chapter five. As it has been with The previous verses we've looked
at, there's some difficult verses here. There's some difficult
things to consider, and it requires something of an in-depth study
here, and so I ask your undivided attention once again. Some things, some controversial
things, at least in the minds of men. The old sayings go like this. The world says it's a dog-eat-dog
world out there. You've heard that. It's a dog-eat-dog
world. You've got to fight to stay alive.
Only the strong survive. That's man's wisdom, isn't it? It's man's thoughts and ways. But I ask us, how far has that
gotten us, that principle? How far has that gotten man,
dog eat dog world? Well, we've just about devoured
ourselves. Wars and rumors of wars abound, don't they? And
they will continue as long as that type of attitude exists
at that point. As long as retaliation and fighting
continues, and that's the rule, wars and rumors of wars will
continue to the end of the world. But our Lord said to his disciples,
and anybody who's seeking, he said, blessed are the meek, for
they shall inherit the earth. It's exactly the opposite of
what this world is saying. Now, if you know yourself, you
know this is true. But it's one of the hardest things
for us by nature, it's one of the hardest things for us to
do, to take a wrong patiently. When somebody wrongs us, somebody
mistreats us and abuses us and we don't, quote, have it coming,
we don't deserve it. I say that tongue-in-cheek. We
deserve much worse before God. But when somebody wrongs us,
one of the hardest things it is for us to do by nature is
to take it patiently and to bear up under wrongful persecution
or any so-called breach of our rights. We've got our rights,
you know. It's our nature to fight, to
argue, to retaliate if we think we've been wrong. I don't care
if it's been shorted ten cents to store. Right? It's our nature. And, you know,
we get in arguments and quarrels and so forth with people, and
they're wrong, and even if we find out that maybe we are a
little bit wrong. Yeah, I know you husbands and
wives aren't like this, but even if you find out in the course
of that argument or whatever that maybe you are wrong, you'll
still Try to justify yourself. You'll still try to find something
to support your own reasons for getting all up in the air. Right?
That's human nature. Of course it is. And we'll do
it with a vengeance. Now listen to me. I've got to lay the groundwork
here. This is tough. This is tough stuff here. Difficult. All right? Listen, this is kind
of a prelude to looking into it. Our Lord is once again dealing,
as he has been in all of these verses. He started it back in
the same chapter, back in verse 20. He said, "'Except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
you shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven.'" Now, the
Pharisees were a bunch of religionists, but they were self-righteous.
They looked down on other people because they had the outward
moral law all kept to a T. You know, they looked good, they
sounded good, they were good. But Christ saw them for what
they were. He could look on the inside and say, you're full of
extortion and excess. They had the kind of attitude
that some churches today have. We don't want any sinners around
here. And they said that. They actually said that to Christ
one time. We'd be not sinners. They said that to that man who
was healed, that blind man. We'd be not sinners. You were
altogether born in sin. One of our brothers was telling
me about a church, a so-called church, not a church, I want
to quit using that word. You know, a religious organization
around here who somebody wanted to join their little clubhouse
church, they call it. Somebody wanted to join. And
the people, the elders of that church, found out that this fellow
or woman, whoever it was, woman I think it was, had been divorced. And they turned her down or him
down, I forget, male or female, turned him down. Wouldn't let
him in. And that's like, we concluded,
that that's like saying, no sinners allowed here. The only sinners
around here. But if there's no sinners allowed
in this place, we wouldn't have a crowd here tonight, would we?
I couldn't stand up here. I've said before that I'd like
to put a sign on top of this church building that says, no
good people allowed. No self-righteous religious people
allowed. This is a hospital for sinners.
This is a place where sinners come to find help and need. We
don't kick people. That's the kind of people we
want. Bring them. Bring them in. Go
into the highways and hedges. That's what Christ said, didn't
He? Go into the highways and hedges and find the lowest. Find
the worst. Those are the ones that God saves. He doesn't save the high and
mighty. He said Himself, I've not come to call the righteous.
Good religious folks, they don't need a Savior. They've saved
themselves. They've quit this, quit that,
got their lives all straightened up. They don't need a Savior.
Oh, they like to talk about some man named Jesus, you know, what
they'd do for Him. But they sure don't need a Savior
to reach way down and pull them out of the mire and the muck,
wash their sins away, forgive them, and keep forgiving them,
and keep on forgiving them. till the day they die and take
them all the way to heaven. They don't need that, do they? Well, these
Pharisees, this is who the Lord was dealing with, you see. These
Pharisees, this is who He was talking about. Because they kept
the outward law. They kept it outwardly anyway.
But Christ said, unless you've got something better than what
those fellows have, you're not going to get into heaven either.
They've got just an outward show of religion. An outward show
of religion. Unless you've got a new nature
on the inside, this is where salvation starts. That's the
reason we say to people, don't come, people who are seeking
answers and so forth and are troubled and guilty and feel
guilty about themselves and their lives, and we say to everybody
that's like that, don't clean up and then come. Does everybody
take a spit bath before you get in the shower? Anybody here do
that? You take a spit bath before you
get in the shower? Well, no, you come as you are, don't you?
The song says, just as I am. So you come to Christ, you come
to, quote, church to hear the gospel. You don't clean up your
act and then try to come, you know, to maybe God will receive
me now I'm cleaned up. No, he won't receive cleaned
up people. He's got to go over and clean it. See, he gets all
the glory that way. Come as you are, right? Just as I am. Here I am. If anything's done with me, he's
sure going to have to do it. And so it starts on the inside,
and that's where the change first starts, you see. You don't clean
up the outside of the cup, because that creates self-righteousness,
doesn't it, Stan? And that's what the Pharisees
were guilty of. Christ said that about them. He said, you clean
up the outside of the cup, and then the inside doesn't bother
you too much. And everybody thinks you're okay. You look good. You
sound good. You get real religious. You learn
all the religious phrases. Right, John? You learn all the
religious songs and talk, when on the inside, you're just as
much a hellion as you were to begin. You're worse now. Like
that fellow who left his house, or the demons who left that fellow's
house. That's a picture of when a man
gets religion. You know the story, the parable,
where the demons left the fellow's house, and when they came back,
They found it swept and garnished, and they brought seven more with
them. And the end was worse than the first. In other words, here's
a fellow, he's bad, he's low down, he's no good, so he gets
religion, you know, joins a church, joins a church, makes his decision,
cleans up his act which is drinking, smoking, and that's fine, that's
good, he ought to. It's going to give him cirrhosis of the
liver and this and that and give him problems, isn't it? But that
sure won't save him. As a matter of fact, it may damage
him. because he'll think because he did that, God's pleased, right? Well, he gets all religious and
cleans up his act, sweeps and garnishes, garnishes his soul
with good works and going to church and buys him a new suit
and this and that and the other. Well, the devil comes back and
he brings seven fellows with him. He brings pride and prejudice
and hatred and self-righteousness and all of these things, these
religious sins, spiritual sins. And he's worse than he was to
begin with. He'd been better off still down at Joe's bar,
a drunk. Right? That's the reason the
Lord looked at those Pharisees and said, the harlots and the
publicans are going to get into heaven before you guys. Why?
Because they'd just look in the mirror and tell that they're
sinners. You are all fixed up. And you think you're all right,
but on the inside, that's where God looks, on the inside. You're
a mess. So our Lord was dealing with
these fellows, and he says, unless you've got this new nature within,
new character, and this real work started within you. And
I'll remind everybody in here, the way this work starts, the
first way that God works on a person. Are you interested? The first
way that God, the Holy Spirit, begins to deal with somebody in saving them, the first thing
He does is to make them see how rotten they are. It's the first
thing he does, convict of sin. We saw that in Deuteronomy 8
last week, didn't we? Bring you low, bring you down.
See, when you're as down as far as you can get, as broken, as
guilty, as vile, as wretched, as sinful as you can be, there's
no place else to look but up, right? But when there's somebody
lower than you, you're going to look down on them. You'll
say, at least I'm not as bad as that old fellow. So the place
that the Holy Spirit brings everybody is down as low, like old Donny
Bell says, lower than a snake's belly. Knee high to a grasshopper. Then, there's no place else to
look but to look up. Right there is where Christ's
feet is, see? He'll come to Christ's cheek and kiss him on the cheek
like Judas, at his feet. That's where Christ's feet is,
down in the dirt, isn't it? for guilty sinners, for harlots,
for publicans, for sinners. Well, the Pharisees were so careful
about the outward letter of the law, but they were totally ignorant
of what the law was really saying. Totally ignorant. They studied
it. That's typical, isn't it? Typical of preachers today. You know, they studied it. They
can quote it backwards and forward, like old Jack Van Wimpy. Quote
it backwards and forward, and they're ignorant of it. They're
ignorant of the meaning of it. Our Lord is not destroying the
law here. He's not destroying it, and He's
not setting His teachings against it. Just don't make that mistake.
The Lord is not saying, no, this is what is said in the law, but
this is what I'm telling you now. You don't have to disregard
that. He's not doing that, is He? Now, He's the one that gave
it. But He's showing the new principles.
Now, listen, I've got to set this straight. Christ is showing
A new principle that the grace of God puts within a believer,
as opposed to mere religion. Religion is just the outward
letter, strict conformity of what the letter says. It says,
do this, oh there, I got it. It's a principle within. It's
what the grace of God does. Now look at verse 38. And we
begin our text. Matthew 5, 38. The Lord says,
Now you've heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye
and a tooth for a tooth. Our brother read this just tonight
over in the book of Leviticus chapter twenty-four. It's found
in a couple of other places, too. The Exodus and Deuteronomy.
He says, You've heard that it hath been said, An eye for an
eye and a tooth for a tooth. Now, this needs to be dealt with
here because there's nothing wrong with that law. Oh, no,
that's a good law, the law of God's holy and just and good.
That's a good law, a good law. Our evil, hypocritical, self-righteous
generation of lawbreakers denounces this. This old teaching is cruel
and barbaric, don't they? Now, you hear them all the time
make fun of this, an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth. of the
law of God, when in fact, if this were enforced, there'd be
a whole lot less crime going on today, wouldn't there? Sure it would. A man would steal
something, get his hand cut off, he'd think twice, or at least
once, about stealing again, wouldn't he? Was there anything wrong
with that law? No, he got the job done. What this is teaching, the principle
that the Lord is bringing out here, is Equal justice to fit
the crime. And it was good, Henry. No more,
no less. You do a crime, you commit a
crime willfully, obstinately, rebelliously, you willfully commit
this crime, you're going to get what that crime deserves. No
more. The Lord's not going to kill
you for stealing. He may, you know, he may get something cut
off. Not going to kill you for that. It equals yet no more,
no less. You're going to get what it deserves.
And I wish I wish we had laws today that were somewhat like
this. Don't you? A man gets caught
raping a woman. Well, that's worthy of death,
but. He ought to be cut off. If you look in the scripture
sometime at that, that's exactly what that verse means. Cut off,
let him be cut off. He ought to be rendered impotent
from that day forward. We ought to have some laws just
like that. In Muslim countries, they still
have these laws, and I challenge you to look up their crime rates.
They don't have that problem. Down in Mexico, they don't have
that problem, do they? We were talking to Brother Walter
Groovey. He said they just don't have violent crimes down there,
because they'll throw you in prison, and they'll throw away
the key. And it ain't no country club. It's a hell hole. And you'll
be there until you rot. So, is there anything wrong with
that law? But our self-righteous, hypocritical
generation, you know, that's so cruel and barbaric. Now, what
this is saying, though, is if a man has willfully caused bodily
harm or injury, then he ought to suffer the same thing. Say,
if I go up and just out of meanness poke out your eye, it'll take
mine. That's a good law. Nothing wrong
with that law. It would deter most crime. Guarantee
it. God knew that, and God in His
wisdom instituted it. All right? But no, we're so civilized,
you know. We've got the ACLU. We've got
the American Civil Liberties Union. And what that is, is that,
see, now we're defending the criminals. Everybody's got their rights,
even criminals, don't they? And we're defending the criminals
now. They've got their right, American civil liberties. And
the way it ends up is so perverted and so backwards that the victims
pay for the crime. The victims pay taxes. I didn't
mean to get into politics here, but the victims pay taxes to
put the boys up in the jail that offended them. We're paying their
room and board when they might have robbed and stolen from us. If this law was in effect, it
wouldn't happen. Well, it is. I was telling a
brother, God will pay. He'll pay them. They'll get it. Whether our courts do or not,
justice will be served. Justice will be served. What
I'm trying to show you is that the law of God is holy and just,
and it's good. I guarantee you, Rick, they didn't
have the problems back then that we do. No way. They could leave
their keys in their cars at night. This is a holy and a just law
handed down by our all-wise God. Now, but we're not the judges,
and we're not the law enforcement. We're not the ones who do enforce
this law, right? When we ourselves are wronged,
the scripture says, and this is what we're going to look at,
we're to take it patiently and believe in our Lord, who hath
said, Vengeance is mine, I'll repay. Look at verse thirty-nine,
But I say unto you, Resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite
thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. Resist
not evil, but turn to chief. Now, he's not talking about You're
not talking about defending your family. Say a man breaks into
your house, Rick, with a gun, and he's going to do bodily harm
to your family. If you don't provide for your
family, the Scripture says, if a man does not provide for his
family, he's worse than an infidel. What do you provide for your
family? Just food? No, you provide love. You provide safety, don't
you? You provide protection. You lay
down your life. If you didn't stand up in defense
of them, you'd be a monster, wouldn't you? You'd be a no-good,
wretched bum. You ought to be the one taken
out and shot. And the Lord's not talking about that at all,
not at all. The right to bear arms has been
from the beginning. The Lord said in Luke 22, 38,
do you remember that verse where the disciples came and he said,
When I was with you, did you like anything? I told you not
to take any script, or purse, or sword, or anything. You didn't
like anything. Everything was OK, wasn't it? They said, nothing,
Lord. We didn't like a thing. He said, now go buy your sword. Look it up sometime. And Peter
came to him and said, well, here's two swords. He said, that's enough.
In other words, those disciples were going to be out on the road,
and they were going to be subject to thieves and robbers. Was the
Lord just going to let them be prey to anybody that comes along?
No. No. He's not insensitive and uncaring
like that. Not at all. He provides for that
need. It's a right to bear arms. OK? But now, if we take up the sword,
he said, we'll die by it. If we pack a pistol on our hip,
we can look to get in a gunfight, can't we? Because some old boy
will call us down, I'm faster than you. Right? Back in the old days, a man would
pick a fight with a fellow, get in a gunfight because another
fellow was wearing one. I think I can take him. Who is he? I
don't know, but I think I can take him. What has he done to
you? Nothing, but I want to take him.
They say he's fast. And you get killed over nothing.
Right? Same principle. Same principle. We're not to
live by the sword, be fighters, brawlers, Ready to defend ourselves
at the slightest provocation. What did you say? I'm tougher
than you. No. We're to exhaust every means
toward a peaceable solution, even to the point of great sacrifice.
Great sacrifice and compromise. The Lord said, smitten on the
cheek. I said, turn the other one in. Turn the other one. Listen and see if this isn't
wise by our Lord. See if this isn't so. It's our
nature to be more violent when violated. It's our nature to be more violent
when we are violated. The only thing that will really
turn away wrath and get you out of a violent situation is if
you say, soft answer turns away wrath. So you get all up in the air,
and he gets all up in the air, and you get more up in the air,
and he gets more up in the air, and before you know it, you've
got two tomcats with their backs all up in the air, ready to fight
over nothing. Whereas if one of them just kind
of put his tail between his legs and kind of just walk off, there
ain't much of a fight there. Go on, you sissy, you chicken.
He may say that, but you sure saved your skin. That's just wisdom. The Lord
is teaching us good wisdom here. Look over at Romans chapter twelve.
Romans chapter twelve. Violence only breathes violence,
so that we're not to fuel the fire, you see. It doesn't take
much. Some of us used to have hot tempers. I hope not anymore. The grace
of God cools a hot temper, or it ought to. Or a man hasn't
learned anything in the grace of God. You know, there used
to be a time when the slightest little thing—you've got a fuse,
a little short—they say you've got a short fuse, where a man
explodes. You know, the slightest little
provocation, that ought not to be so. It ought not to be named
once among those that are called saints. Not at all. We're so prone to it, but we
ought to be done with it. Lay aside anger and wrath and
so forth. Romans 12, this is the scriptural
way and the wise way to overcome evil. Romans 12, verse 17, recompense
to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in sight
of all men. If it be possible, as much as
life in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge
not yourselves, but rather give place, or don't allow wrath to
come up and A root of bitterness destroy you. It's written, vengeance
is mine. I'll repay, saith the Lord. And
I guarantee you he can dole out the punishment to where payment
will be made. We can't. We beat a fellow up,
stand, he may come back with a gun, crowbar, right? Therefore, if thine enemy hunger,
feed him. If he thirst, give him drink.
In so doing, you heap judgment on him, fire on his head. Be
not overcome of evil. In other words, don't you become
just like that fellow, but overcome evil with good. Overcome evil
with good. Now back to Matthew chapter 5. And this is so contrary to us,
isn't it? So contrary to our nature. So
what's it going to take? What's it going to take to get
us to do this? How is it that we're able to
do anything? What do we have to have? Grace. Great grace. Great grace. Great grace. Because this is
so contrary to us. Now, like I said, the Lord allows
defense of ourselves and our families against imminent danger
and peril. But the principle he's setting
forth here is to passively take most insults and injuries, using
every effort to avoid a worse end. Isn't that wisdom? Because
the end will be worse than the beginning. Agree without adversary. That's the same thing he said
back in verse twenty-five. All right, verse forty. Now,
if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let
him have thy cloak also. He's talking about civil suits
here. We've got to deal with this.
See what I'm talking about, the difficulty of these verses. We're
going verse by verse. I need to be over there. The
Lord took the time. He never dealt with a useless
subject. So we need to look at it. This is wisdom. We're talking about civil suits
here. This is wisdom. Knowing that the final outcome,
now listen to this, the final outcome will generally cost us
more than the original loss. The Lord says, don't get into
that. Let them have it. Is that not
so? Something happens and you get
into litigation and so forth and you go to a civil court and
you have to pay court costs and this and that and the other.
When in the end, you probably haven't won back, you may not
have won back this or that and the other. You may be out more
money besides your reputation and your name and this and that
and the other. It's not worth it. It's just not worth it. Not worth it. We should avoid
litigation as much as possible. Now, our Lord is telling us this
for good. He's telling us this for our own good and possibly
the good of the offender. He may be impressed by that.
He may be impressed by that. We should avoid a fight and go
out of our way to accommodate people even if we're the ones
in the right. Am I right? That's what He's
saying here. We'll never lose. You'll never
lose this way. Never. You'll gain one way or
another. One way or another. Let me illustrate
this. We moved in over there next door
to the fosters, and they've got an old cur dog. That's the meanest one dog you've
ever been around. And James Thompson came down.
You know, when we were building our house, they came down. And
we went over there for some reason, just to, I think, look at that
house or whatever. And that old dog came out, and we were walking
away, and that dog bit James. He's one of these dogs that won't
bark. His bites are a whole lot worse
than his bark. But he'll bite you when you turn. He can't turn
you back to him, you know. You've got to walk way backwards.
Well, it bit James, and he told me, didn't he, Hannah? He said,
that dog bit me. I said, no, he didn't. He'll
just nip at you. He won't bite you. He said, he
did. He bit me. Well, here's what I'm trying
to bring out. You know, that dog was mean,
wasn't he? Adrian, what a name. Mean, ugly, no good, worthless,
ugly shot. Don't tell Pete I said that to
him. He thinks I like these dogs. The dog thinks I like it, too.
Here's the moral of the story. I befriended that dog, Sammy.
Rather than get, you know, every time that dog come on my property,
get a gun out and say, get out of here and throw a rock at it,
you know. See, I risked the danger of my daughter. Every time my
daughter would be out there and that dog may seek vengeance, retaliation. Every time we turn our backs,
we're going to be worried about that dog. Right? I befriended that dog. I fed
it. I watered it. I called it. I petted it. That
dog loves me now. I still don't much like the dog. He's still a no-good, curry dog.
Worse, he could bite you. Don't bite me. You've got to treat them with
kid gloves. You're going to have to befriend
them. Feed them and water them. Talk nice to them. They may be
hungry as a snake, but if you treat them right, in the end,
you'll be the gainer for it. See? That's just good business,
and that's just smart. The Scripture says, if you bite
and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed All right, now the Lord dealing
in verse forty-one. He's dealing with favors and
loans. Not savings and loans, but favors and loans. Verse forty-one, Now whosoever
shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him too. Can I borrow your car? Sure. And here is money for gas. That's
what he's saying here. That's exactly what he's saying.
Would you take me to town? Well, yeah, I'd be glad to. And
I'll buy you lunch while we're there. That's exactly what he's
saying. Isn't that the principle of love
and charity our Lord is teaching us? Who's the gainer in that
situation? Who's the gainer? If any of you
have ever experienced this, you know what the scripture is talking
about. It's more blessing, it's truly more blessing to give than
to receive. Isn't it? Who gets the greater
blessing out of something like that? Oh, you do. And I know
they've coined this phrase, but it's so. I know religionists
have said this, but it's so nonetheless. You can't out-give God. No way. The proverb says, He that lendeth
to the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and it will be returned
to him. It's definitely more enjoyable and rewarding. You
say, I can't afford it. You can't afford not to. You can't afford not to. Test your
bread upon the water. What goes around comes around.
How many times have you proved this? How many times has this
been proven to you? Huh? It'll definitely be returned
to you, and usually with interest. Is that not so? Usually a hundredfold. Can you
recount any instances where you've given some little gift and you've
been repaid far over and above what you gave? How many times? How many times? We give a little
something, maybe sacrificially, and we ought to. And we think,
oh boy, and we get back ten times what we get. How many times does
that happen? A lot. Mostly. Nearly every time. Nearly every time. Now let me
remind you, in light of all this now, I wanted to get to this
spiritual application here. Let me remind you of God Almighty's
unspeakable gift. his unspeakable gift that he
gave to a rotten wretch. How can it be? How can it be? We sung that song. How can it
be that God should love a soul like me? Well, he got a lot back. Not from us. But he got infinite
glory and honor. He'll get an eternity of glory
and honor for what he did for an old wretch like Henry Sowell.
Boy, Henry got a lot too, didn't he? It was a good bargain. That's
a good bargain. We talk about resisting not evil
and turning the other cheek. What about Christ's patient forbearance
with us? He's teaching us to forbear with
others, to take patiently insult and injury and wrong and so forth.
What about Christ? Then Hebrews 12 say, Consider
him who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest
you be wearied in well-doing. Consider him. You've never been
wronged. Like I said, like Spurgeon said
one time, he said, If somebody calls you names, somebody comes
out and says, You blank, you blank, no good, worthless, low-down,
yellow-bellied, shiftless, snake in the grass. You better be glad he didn't
tell all the truth. Right? You better be glad he didn't
reveal everything. Right? If only the half was known. He said the good things about
you. But Christ was totally innocent.
Completely innocent of anything. And he took it patiently. That
scripture says, he opened not his mouth. Like a sheep before
her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Why? When Pilate
looked at him and said, Don't you know I have the power to
kill you? Aren't you going to say anything?
He didn't. Why? Because that was me standing
there. He was taking my place. We'd
swapped places then. And he was taking my place and
he was standing there and bearing all this insult and all of these
accusations and judgment and death finally and bloodshed and
hell itself. Because that's me, Henry. That's
what I deserve. Because if I stood before a holy
God and God said, you're no good, you're worthless, you're a sinner,
you're a blasphemer, you're guilty, I'd have to shut my mouth and
say, yeah, that's true. So Christ did it for me. He took
it patiently. Took it patiently. Thank God.
Thank God he did that. Thank God. Thank God he doesn't
give us that strict justice, right? Eye for an eye, tooth
for a tooth. Thank God he gave it to Christ in my stead. What about Christ? It says in
verse 39, resist not evil, but whosoever smite thee on thy right
cheek, turn to him the other also. What about Christ turning
his cheek? Oh, the song of Solomon chapter 5 talks about those cheeks
that are like spices. That lovely person. When you think about somebody's
cheek, their face, that person. Think about somebody, your daddy
or your granddaddy or somebody you love dearly and you hold
in high esteem and love to touch his face. You love him. Sweet.
Well, there's nobody sweet. There is no name so sweet on
earth. No sweeter man ever walked on
the planet than Jesus Christ. And those cheeks deserved to
be cradled in our hands and just
caressed. Instead, they'd bust him up one
side. What would he do? He could have
called ten thousand, twelve legions of angels, the Scripture said.
A hundred and how many thousands of angels? One angel could destroy
the whole world. He could have called hundreds
of thousands of angels to destroy the world, getting him off the
cross. Couldn't he? He didn't. They
whopped him up one side of the head. Said they buffeted him.
It doesn't mean they slapped him. Smacked him. They pummeled
him. What'd they do? Ricky could have
blasted him with one breath of his nostrils. Utterly consumed
him. Psalm 2 says, kiss the son lest
he be angry when his wrath is kindled. How much? But a little. And you perish from the way.
Just a little bit. Just one. He turned the other. Why? What you deserve, Stan Anderson. That's what I deserve. That's
what you deserve, Rick. He turned his cheek. He could have vindicated
himself, but he didn't. Because then he wouldn't have
vindicated us. Right? And we enjoy the rewards of him
doing that. You see? We're the gainer from
that. But Henry, now this is the wisdom
of God too. It says, For the joy that was
set before him, he endured the cross, despised the shame, thought
nothing of it, and now sat down at the right hand of God. He
was and he is vindicated now, Richard. Now he took all that
patiently, forbear all that, but he was and he is vindicated
now, one million fold. He said that he committed himself
to him that judges righteously. You see, rather than speaking
up at that time, he knows all. He knew the end. Sure, it was
painful. Nobody endured such pain and
sorrow and suffering like he did. We couldn't take it. A mere
mortal man could not have taken what the Lord took. Not only
the physical pain and agony, but going through literal hell,
the wrath and the judgment of God Almighty. God Almighty smote
him. We did esteem him smitten and
stricken of God. The wrath, the judgment, the
justice of God fell on him, didn't it Ed? No mere mortal man could
have taken that. But Christ did. That's the reason
he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood. But rather than speaking
up and acting in his own defense and making a few petty Roman
rulers, making them appear to be the fools they are. I showed
you, didn't I? There you go. Instead of ripping
himself off that cross, remember when the Pharisees came by and
said, eh, he can't, he's nobody. If he saved others himself, he
can't say, let him come down to the cross, we'll believe him.
What would that have gotten him? Huh? If he said, I'll show you.
Come down off that cross, there'd have been what, 50 people, 100
people there rolling? They might have believed him
by now, that's all I'm talking about, right? But the ends, you see, see in
the end now, because he endured that, is now sat down at the
right hand of God. Now one hundred and forty-five
zillion people bow down to him in glory and honor and say, He
is the Lord, isn't he? You see the wisdom of that? If
he'd have vindicated himself and come off that cross just
to prove himself to fifty Roman soldiers, what would he have
gotten? Instead he endured that cross, despised the shame. And
then he went back to the right hand of God, victorious over
it. He rose from the grave. That
was greater than coming down from the cross, rising out of
that grave after three days, and ascending back into clouds
to heaven, and sitting at the right hand of God, and going
to judge the nations. And now a multitude that no man
can number bowed to him instead of to him. You see that? He gets the greater glory. The
greater glory. Verse 40, "...any man soothe
thee at the law, and take away your coat, let him have your
cloak also." What about Christ? We stripped Him plum naked, didn't
we? Stripped Him plum naked, took
away His clothes, all of His clothes, and He gave us His righteousness. Think about that for just a minute. We stripped Him naked and paraded
Him in front of men, women, and children and spit in His face.
And what did He give us? A perfect covering for all our
sins. You're talking about going the
extra mile, Terry. You're talking about taking away His cloak and
Him giving us His coat also. Whosoever shall compel thee to
go a mile, go with him too." Oh, my! What about how our sins
compelled Christ to come to this earth? What condescension! How far did he come, Rick? How
far did he come, Vicki, when he came to this earth, condescended
to live in this cesspool? Me standing out there in that
ditch of everybody here spills nothing. That's where I belong.
He didn't belong here, but he came. The king left the throne
and came and sat on a dunghill. You see, we're beggars on the
dunghill, and we go back and sit on the throne. How far did
he come? When he reached down for you,
how far did he reach? The psalm says, way down, like
a cesspool. What if I'd a... Everybody here
should have seen that when we opened up that... cesspool out here, that our septic
tank. Everybody here should have been,
we should have had a ceremony around that thing. I'm serious. That's us. What if I reached down in that
and just, didn't it make you want to vomit to think about
the thought? Huh? If my daughter was down in that,
wouldn't think a thing about it, would I? I'd dive in it. and rescue her. That's what Christ
did. That's what Christ did. And He went further. He went
the extra mile. Not only did He come to earth
to rescue His people, He went into hell itself. He went an
extra mile. He took hell for us. And then He went even further
than that. He went all the way back to heaven again and ever lives to
make intercession for us. He went the extra mile. He went
to we compelled, our sins compelled him to come down here. And he
went to, he went further than that. Give to him that asketh
thee, give to him that asketh from thee, and from him that
would borrow thee, turn not away. Verse 42, give to him that asketh,
from him that would borrow thee, turn not away. What about our
Lord? Say, ask me. Ask. If you ask anything in my name,
I'll give it to you. Didn't he? He never has refused
one single sinner that came to him, no matter how rotten. But
Lord, you don't know her. That's exactly what they said
to the Lord when he sat on the well with that woman, didn't
he? His disciples, now they were old fisher boys. See, this is
what religion does to you. It'll make you self-righteous.
These old boys were cussing snorting, no good, worthless, snuff-chewing.
Sailors down on the boat, you know how sailors are, talking,
telling dirty jokes, you know, and filthy, rotten, vile. Well, they got a little religion,
you know. And they were feeling pretty good about themselves.
And one day they walked into town, and the Lord was sitting
there on the well with a woman who'd been married several times.
And they said, doesn't he know who he's talking to? That's what those Pharisees said
about the woman caught in the act of adultery, brought into
his feet, said the same thing. And if he knew what manner of
woman this was, he wouldn't let her touch him. He knew. That's why he came. That's why
he came, didn't he? And ask, and no sinner, no
matter how great the sinner, Who's ever asked him for mercy
has ever, ever, ever been turned away. Ever. Not one. Not one. That gives me hope. If you only
knew. If we could just turn back the
clock, put up a screen up here and show you me. old fellow one time came in to,
I forget the man's name, William Law, I believe was his name,
came in and said, Did you hear that the Lord saved old brother
John Cheesley? I forget the man's name he was
talking about, but he must have been a notorious fellow, town
drunk or something. He came in and said, Did you
hear that the Lord saved old John, brother William? Did you
hear about that? I said, Yes, I did. I heard that.
The man said, Well, I'll never despair of the Lord saving anybody,
since he saved old John there. And old brother William Law said
to him, he said, Sir, he said, Since the Lord saved me, I'll
never despair of him saving anybody, since he saved me. Well, the Lord gives freely to
us. He gives freely to us of nearly everything we ask for,
and He expects nothing in return. And that's what He tells us to
do. That's the principle He gives us. What can we give Him anyway?
We borrow everything we have from Him, don't we? And everything
we have, we borrowed from the Lord. Give your tithes to Jesus, my soul. Give your house to Him.
That'd be better. That'd be a more fitting gift.
And still, that wouldn't be enough, would it? And he requires us. He expects
us to share what he has given us. Doesn't it? Just like we
teach our children. That's the one thing. Mindy,
isn't that the one thing when we catch Hannah not sharing her
things and having a little spirit of greed within her? Isn't that
the one thing that really, really makes us about as mad as we can
get at her? You see, Hannah, we gave you
everything you've got. Mom and Daddy did. God gave that
to us, but we give it to you. And if you don't share that with
somebody, that makes us mad. Because we gave it to you. We
gave it to you. And we expect you to share it.
We'll give you more. You've got all the things you
could possibly ask for, don't you? All the dogs? And so do
we. Don't we? And the Lord God expects
us to share it. Expects us to share it. Do you
remember the illustration of the man who went to purchase
the pearl in the shop? Let me tell it to you again. This man was a pearl merchant. He collected jewels, particularly
pearls, and he was looking for goodly pearls. And one day he
found the pearl of his dreams. He found the pearl that he had
to have to really Top off his collection. I was in a jewelry
shop, and he went in, and he saw it in the window, and he
ran in real fast and asked the merchant, he said, that pearl
out there in the window, how much is it? I've got to have
it. How much is it? The fellow looked him up and
down and said, well, you can't really afford it, but
I've got to have it. Well, then it'll cost you everything
you have. all you want. And I said, wow,
I don't know. And he took another look at that
pearl. I've got to have it. So he got his wallet out and
he looked in his wallet and he found $150. And he said, this
is all I've got on me here, $150. And he gave it, no, he started
to give him $125 and said, all of it. All of it. It costs you everything. The fellow said, well, I've got
to have a little gas money. My car is low on gas. I've got
to have a little gas. Oh, the fellow said, oh, wait a minute
now. You say you've got a car? I told you it's going to cost
you everything. Give me the keys to your car. Oh, the fellow said,
but wait a minute. You can't take my car. I need
my car to get to work. How am I going to get to work?
Oh, you've got a job? You work? Well, it'll cost you
your job, too. Oh, but the fellow said, I need
a job. I can't pay for my home. How
am I going to pay for it? Go, wait a minute now. You got a
home? A house? You own a house? Give me the
deed to your house. I told you everything. You want
this pearl? It'll cost you everything. The
fellow said, but wait a minute. You don't understand. I've got
a family. Where are we going to live? Oh, you've got a family. How many kids you got? I got three. You got a wife?
Yeah. Give me their birth certificates.
I told you that if you want this pearl, it'll cost you everything
you've got. The fellow took another look
at the pearl, and he said, I got to have it.
I got to have it. So he handed all that over to
the fellow. And then the fellow started to
leave with his pearl, cradling that thing. It cost him everything.
And boy, he was hanging on to it. That pearl's a picture of
Christ, you see. He's the pearl of great pride.
And we've got to forsake everything and take Christ, but we've made
a good bargain. But the fellow started to walk
away with that pearl and walk out of that shop. Boy, he was
under trial, tribulation. But he had a pearl, able to make
him rich beyond his wildest dreams. And just as he started to walk
out the door, the merchant said, wait a minute, fellow, wait a
minute, come back here. Come back. The fellow walked back
in, and he said, here, I'm giving all this back
to you. The merchant said, You can have
your home and your family and your job and your car and your
money and all of that. You can have it all back. I'm
giving it back to you. And keep the pearl. But, now
you remember. You're borrowing that stuff.
That's mine. That's what the pearl cost you.
It's mine. It all belongs to me. If one of my friends comes
into town and he needs a place to stay, you won't mind him staying
in my house, will you? You won't mind that, will you?
I didn't think you would. Now, if one of my people, they
have a need, their car is broke down and they need to borrow
a car, you won't mind him taking my car, will you? No, sure you
won't. It's mine. And if he has a need, doesn't
have any groceries he needs, he's got a bill to pay, you won't
mind loaning him a hundred dollars that I loan you, will you? You
won't mind that, will you? You didn't think you would. Isn't that the same principle?
The Lord just freely gives, just keeps giving, keeps giving. And
Christ on top of that, on top of all that, make the unsearchable
riches of Christ, pardon, forgiveness, mercy, grace, love, fellowship,
all of that, and a house, family, money to spend, cars to drive.
And he says the same thing that now you won't mind where you
give them that ask you expect nothing in return. You won't
mind that way. Didn't think you would. All right. I hope you got something
out of that.