Would you turn with me to Luke
chapter 6? I'd like to begin reading in
verse 27 and read down through verse 38 of Luke chapter 6. But I say unto you which here
Love your enemies. Do good to them which hate you. Bless them that curse you. And pray for them which despitefully
use you. And unto him that smiteth thee
on the one cheek, offer also the other. And him that taketh
away thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every
man that asketh of thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods,
ask them not again. And as you would that men should
do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if you love them
which love you, what thank have you? For sinners also love those
that love them. And if you do good to them which
do good to you, what thank have you? For sinners also do even
the same. And if you lend to them of whom
you hope to receive, what thank have you? For sinners also lend
to sinners to receive as much again, but love your enemies
and do good. and lend, hoping for nothing
again. And your reward shall be great,
and you shall be the children of the highest. For he is kind
unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful,
as your father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not
be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not
be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given unto
you. Good measure, pressed down and
shaken together and running over, shall men give unto your bosom.
For with the same measure that you meet, with all it shall be
measured to you again. Look once again in verse 32.
For if you love them which love you, what thank have ye? Now that word thank is the word
that's usually translated grace. Same word as in Ephesians 2.8
where it says, for by grace are you saved through faith. So you
could just as easily say, if you love them which love you,
what grace have you? For sinners who had no grace
also love those that love them. And if you do good to them, which
do good to you, what grace have you? For sinners also do even
the same. And if you lend to them of whom
you hope to receive, what grace have you? For sinners also lend
to sinners to receive as much again. I've entitled this message,
Grace. makes a man different. Grace makes a man different. Now, our Lord says, if you simply
love the folks that love you, what grace have you. What does the Bible mean by the
word grace? People use the word all the time, but what does the
Bible mean by this word? Well, for me to have some understanding
of what grace means, I'm also going to have to have some understanding
of the concept of sin. Because without sin, grace is
a meaningless term to me. What does the Bible say about
this thing of sin? Well, David put it this way,
my sin. is ever before me. The sin of
my nature, according to the scriptures, we're born into this world with
a sinful, evil nature, born dead in sins, and there's nothing
I can do to save myself. And the reason I commit sins
is because of my sinful nature. Now, when you have some concept,
and only God can give us this, But when you and I have some
concept of this thing of sin, oh, how we see our need of his
free, unmerited favor and grace. By grace, you're saved. God's grace is not some kind
of offer on his part that's up to you to accept or reject. God's
grace saves. God's grace saves. By grace, you are saved. Oh, thank God for his electing,
redeeming, regenerating grace. The only way grace has any meaning
is if I know something about what the Bible means about me
being a sinner. Now, our Lord says to his disciples,
if you love those who love you, What grace have you? You're not
different than anybody else. You see, grace, this saving grace
towards sinners makes a man different. 1 Corinthians 4, 7 says, who maketh
thee to differ? The fact of the matter is, is
if God's done something for you, if he's done something for me,
we do differ. Grace makes a man different. I could have entitled
this message, grace is a higher standard than law. Or I could
have entitled this message, grace is beautiful. Or I could have
entitled this message, the reward of grace or what God's children
are like. This could all be taken from
this text. And what is said here, I know
you had to think about it. This is impossible for me to
be this way. It's impossible. Yeah, it is. It is. But if I'm
a believer, this is me. I hope we'll understand this
by the end of this message. And he says in verse 27 of Luke
chapter 6, but I say unto you which hear. Not everybody hears,
do they? The Lord said, he that hath ears
to hear. let him hear. Not everybody does. Hold your finger there and turn
to John chapter 8. Verse 43, the Lord says to the
Pharisees, John chapter 8, 43, why do you not understand my
speech? even because you cannot. You lack the ability to hear
my word. You are of your father the devil,
and the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from
the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there's
no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own,
for he's a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you
the truth, you believe me not. Which of you convinces me of
sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He
that's of God, heareth God's words. You therefore hear them
not, because you're not of God. Not everybody can hear, can they?
Oh, I want to be a hearer. I want to be one of these people
who can hear. May God give me and you these
hearing ears. May the Lord enable each one
of us right now to pray, Lord, give me these hearing ears. He's speaking to those who hear. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. Now back to Luke chapter six. But I say unto you which hear,
love your enemies. Not just say you do, but love
them. Love them, your enemies. The
ones who've done you wrong. The ones who've mistreated you.
The ones who've been malicious toward you. The ones who have
ignored you. Love your enemies, not by paying
them back, but doing them good with kindness and mercy. Love your enemies. Do good to
them which hate you. Don't pay them back, but do good
to them. Verse 28, bless those that curse
you. Bless them. Ask for God's blessing
upon their lives and pray for them which despitefully use you.
Now that word despitefully use, Peter said, Peter used the same
word and said falsely accused. Those people who have falsely
accused you. and made accusations against
you that were hurtful and painful. What do you do? You're to pray
for them. Pray for God's blessing upon
them. Pray for God's mercy upon them
that He do something for them. Verse 29. And unto him that smiteth
thee on the one cheek, offer also the other." Don't defend
yourself. In Matthew 5, the Lord said,
resist not evil. Don't put up a fight against
it, but turn the other cheek. And then He says in verse 29,
and him that taketh away thy cloak, forbid not to take thy
coat also. Let him have it. Verse 30, give
to every man that asks of thee. And of him that takes away thy
goods unjustly, confiscates what belongs to you. Ask not for them
again. This is impossible, isn't it?
To treat somebody like this, this is impossible. Well, if we'd live like this,
people would run all over us and take advantage of us. And
it just, we couldn't live like this. Beloved, this is the higher
standard of grace. And if I don't live this way,
I'm not a believer. This is the higher standard of
grace. This is what a believer is. And
if he refuses this, where is grace in all that? Now look what
he says in verse 31. He says, as you would that men
should do to you the way you want to be treated, do ye also
to them likewise. Now the Bible does not tell other
people how to treat me. The Bible tells me how to treat
other people. Bible doesn't tell somebody how
you want to be treated. The Bible tells you how to treat
that individual. As you would that men should
do to you, do you also to them. Now, how do you want to be treated?
How do I want to be treated? What do I really desire in a
relationship with the people I know? Well, I want to be treated
with fairness. I want to be treated with kindness. I want to be treated with respect.
I would like for people to give me the benefit of the doubt,
wouldn't you? I would like for people just
right off the bat to put the best construction on what I'm
doing. I want them to love me at all
times. That's what I want for myself.
That's the way I would like to be treated. You certainly don't
want to be judged by people, do you? You want them to not
be critical of you and harsh of you. And you want them to
forgive you when you do them wrong and be patient toward you.
And remember that you're nothing but a sinner still saved by grace,
still needing his mercy. You'd like for people to help
you when you need help. And you'd like for them to be
loyal and true. That friend that loveth at all
times, that brother that's born for adversity. You want them
to overlook your faults. You know you have plenty of them.
and you want them to cover your sins. You want them to have your
back. You want them to not expose you, but to cover you. That's the way we want to be
treated, in a loving and not distant way. Now, everybody here
wants to be treated like that, don't they? I do. You do. Now that is the way I'm called
upon to treat my brother, as I would have them treat me, even
if they don't reciprocate it. This is what the Lord calls on
me to do and you to do. No matter what, no matter how
you're treated, you're to treat others as you would have them
do unto you. It's what's called the golden
rule. It's beautiful, isn't it? It's beautiful. The Lord's ways
are so glorious. And remember, grace is a higher
standard than the law. And this is how you and I must
be. We must be this way. Now let's
go on reading. Verse 32. For if you love them
which love you, what thank have you or what grace have you? Where's
the grace in that? For sinners also love those that
love them. You know, if you so love somebody
that loves you, you should, you should. If you love me, I'd love
you in return. Parents ought to love their children.
Husbands ought to love their wives. Wives ought to love their
husbands. Friends ought to love their friends. I mean, there
should be a reciprocation in this thing of love. You ought
to, but an unbeliever does that. Somebody that doesn't have any
grace does that. What do you more than others?
Our Lord said in Matthew chapter five, verse 33. And if you do
good to them, which do good to you, Where's the grace there? For sinners also do even the
same. If someone treats you well and
you reciprocate, you should. You know, quite often lost people
do that. And a lost man can have a kind of morality. Don't mistake
that for grace. You ought to act that way. He
says in verse 34, And if you lend to them of whom you hope
to receive, where's their grace in that? For sinners also lend
to sinners to receive as much again. That's looking for a payment,
that's mercenary. In reality, it's nothing more
than selfishness. Now this is the principle of
the world. You scratch my back, I'll scratch
yours. You do good to me, and I'll do good to you. Oh my soul,
I ask myself the question, what do I? more than others. It's expected of a believer.
It's required of a believer. It's real in a believer because
he has a new nature, a holy nature. What do I more than others? Now here's one thing I thought
about thinking about this passage of scripture. Think of how the
Lord Jesus Christ has exemplified this with you and with me. He loved me when I was his enemy. He did good to me when I hated
him. When I cursed him, he blessed
me with all spiritual blessings. He prayed for me. Father, forgive
him. I've prayed for you. He prayed
for me. He turned the cheek instead of
smiting me in return. I asked for grace, he gave it.
I asked for mercy, he gave it. He fulfilled, verse 31, he truly
did unto others as he would have them do unto him. You remember
Him washing His disciples' feet? He gave me His cloak, the cloak
of His righteousness. He loved me. He did me good. He gave to me when He knew there's
nothing I could return to Him, but He gave. Our Lord exemplifies
this so beautifully, doesn't He? He's the one who, here He
is. Verse 35. The Lord says, but love your
enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again, not
looking for reciprocation, not looking for a payment. And your
reward shall be great, and you shall be the children of the
highest. Now, this kind of conduct is beautiful, isn't it? It's
beautiful. It's noble. It's above human morality. And
the Lord says in living this way, great is your reward. Great is your reward. The reward
of having done what the Lord said to do. That's quite enough.
Now, if you go to your brother who's treated you badly and say,
brother, we're friends and you managed to heal the wounds, you
know what? That's the reward right there,
isn't it? Great is your reward in heaven. Turn with me to 1
Corinthians 9. The reward of obedience is obedience.
Look in 1 Corinthians 9. Paul says in verse 16, For though I preach
the gospel, oh, he did. I hope I do too. For though I preach the gospel,
I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yea,
woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. For if I do this
willingly, I have a reward. I have a reward. What, a higher crown in heaven?
No, go on reading. But if against my will a dispensation
of the gospel is committed unto me, what is my reward then? Verily
that when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ
without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel. That's my reward. The reward
of doing what's right. Isn't that a wonderful reward?
If the Lord enables you, if the Lord enables me to be this, that's
the reward right there. Back to our text in Luke chapter
six. Love your enemies, verse 35,
and do good and lend, hoping for nothing again, and your reward
shall be great, and you shall be the children of the highest.
This is how God's children are. What I'm describing right now,
this is how God's children are. They do love their enemies. Isn't
that impossible? Yeah. It is, but by the grace
of God, the new man in them does love their enemies and do good
and lend hoping for nothing again. You shall be the children of
the highest for he, the highest, is kind unto the unthankful and
to the evil. Now, wouldn't that be a very
accurate description of you and I by nature? Unthankful. and evil. And the scripture says
he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God for Christ's sake had forgiven you.
Verse 36, be ye therefore merciful as your father also is merciful. God's mercy. Now let's talk about
God's mercy for just a moment. He says you be merciful just
like your heavenly father. He's merciful, you be merciful.
God's mercy. God's mercy is not some kind
of offer that it's up to me or you to accept or reject. The
first time the word merciful is used in the scripture is found
in Genesis chapter 19 where Lot was lingering after God told
him through the angel, get out of Sodom. He lingered there. He didn't want to leave. He saw
so much in Sodom that was attractive to him, and he lingered there
even after he'd been warned. And the scripture says the angel
of God took him by the hand and pulled him out, God being merciful
to him. Now that is the kind of mercy
I need. I need God to not wait for a
proper response on my part, but for Him to yank me by the hand
and bring me out and do something for me. You see, God's mercy,
let me tell you two things about God's mercy. God's mercy, first
of all, is sovereign. That means He has mercy on whom
He will have mercy. That's what the scripture teaches.
He said, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. That means
it's totally up to God as to whether or not you'll have mercy.
You don't have control. You can't do anything to get
him to give you mercy. You're totally in his hands. Now, if somebody has a problem
with that, the reason they have a problem with it is because
they have a problem with God. That's the only reason. You see, if
I have a problem with that, I think that God, I think mercy's my
entitlement. I think He ought to give me mercy.
I think I deserve mercy if I complain with God's mercy being sovereign.
You know, I hate the entitlement. It's one of the biggest problems
in our country right now. People think they're entitled to this,
entitled to that. I hate it that sinners think they're entitled
to something from God. We forfeited all rights by our sin. We're
in God's hands, and He can do whatsoever He's pleased to do.
His mercy is sovereign mercy. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy, and I will show compassion on whom I will
show compassion. Now, that's God's mercy. As to
whether or not you or I have it, it's up to Him. Leper understood
that, didn't he? Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. It's up to you. God's mercy is
sovereign. And God's mercy is always saving. Turn to Ephesians chapter 2.
Hold your finger there in Luke 6. Turn to Ephesians chapter
2. He said, you be merciful, even as your heavenly Father
is merciful. Ephesians 2 verse 1, And you
hath He quickened who were dead. dead in trespasses and sins,
wherein in times past you walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among
whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.
And we were by nature the children of wrath, just like everybody
else, but God. who is rich in mercy, for his
great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace ye are
saved. Now that's God's mercy, it's
about God. Not but you did anything. But God. I am amazed that God's
had mercy on me. But God. It's saving. Saving. His mercy is given to
those who positively do not deserve it. If they deserved it, it would
not be mercy. I tell you when you really need
mercy is when all your sin is all your fault. That's the person
who needs mercy. And that's the person God gives
mercy to. That one whose sin is all their
fault. Now you be merciful the same
way he is. Blessed are the merciful for
they shall obtain mercy. Verse 36, be ye therefore merciful
as your father also is merciful. And now he gives in these next
two verses, the laws of the kingdom of heaven. Judge not. And you shall not
be judged. Condemn not. And you shall not
be condemned. Forgive. and you shall be forgiven. Give and it shall be given unto
you. Now here's something I want. I don't want to be judged by
God. I don't want to be condemned.
I want to be forgiven and I want to be given to, don't you? That's
what I want from the Lord. Now, the opposite of this is
true. If I judge, now, we make judgments
all the time, I realize that. You got to judge if what you're
hearing is true or not. You got to judge to see if what he's
saying is, is according to the word of God. I've, I've, I've
been, uh, I've said something about somebody who wasn't preaching
gospel before. And somebody says, well, that's being judgmental.
No, that's not being judgmental. That's, that's, that's judging
righteous judgment. What judgment, when he's talking
about judge, not that you'd be not judged, he's talking about
looking down at somebody in moral superiority, criticizing them
for what they do is if you could make that judgment anyway. Um,
If I stand in judgment of you, for number one, I'm being a hypocrite.
Now that, that's the fact of the matter. If I'm judging you
for what you do, that doesn't mean if I see something that's
wrong according to the word of God, I realize that. But if I
look at you because you're doing that and think why that, that
they must not even be saved doing something like that. I do the
same things you do. That's what the scripture says.
So it's, hypocritical for me to stand in moral judgment of
you. And if I judge you, if this is
what I bring, scripture says, I'm going to be judged. I'm going
to be judged. If that's what I did, if I judge
you, I'm going to be judged by God. And that's something I don't
want to happen. When he says, condemn not, what
that means is if I condemn you, it means I've brought you to
the law. If you bring somebody to the law, if that's what you're
about, if you bring somebody to the law for them to be, whatever
the law is gonna do to them, you're gonna be brought to the
law too. Lord says that. If you bring somebody to the
law, you're gonna have to stand before the law before God on
your own. If you fail to forgive, if I fail to forgive, if somebody
sins against me and I say, I'm not gonna forgive them, I'm not
going to be forgiven by God. That's what the scripture says.
Now you, God doesn't forgive you because you forgive. He forgives
you. If you're forgiven, you're forgiven
for Christ's sake. He doesn't forgive you because you forgive.
But if I refuse to forgive, I prove by that, I know nothing of his
forgiveness because we see the greatness of his forgiveness
toward us. It makes us forgive. And if I forgive not, I won't
be forgiven. And if I don't give, it won't
be given to me. Now that's just true, that's
so. Notice how the Lord says in verse
38, given and shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed
down and shaken together and running over shall be given to
your bosom. For with the same measure that you meet, with all
it shall be measured to you again. God is going to measure out the
blessings he's gonna give you and me in the basket we bring.
Now what's that mean? Well, if I don't judge somebody, he's not gonna judge me. That's
precisely what that means. And understand this. It's not that I'm not judged
because I don't judge somebody else. Here's what it is. When
the Lord reveals the gospel to you, you understand that there's
no sin that your brother commits that you won't commit just as
easily. And you pray for grace to not
be tempted because you'll know you'll fall. And if you look
down your nose at your brother, well, You prove by that, you
really don't believe grace in the first place. You don't really
believe that you're a sinner in the first place. You haven't
really heard the gospel in the first place. That's all I proved
by that. But if I know what I am, I really
believe, I really believe But I can't judge anybody because
I'm worse in and of myself. I can't look down at somebody.
No, I know what I am. Now, the Lord's gonna measure
out your blessing in the bushel that you bring. You come with
a judgmental attitude, He's gonna judge you. Same thing with condemning. Condemn not and you won't be
condemned. That has to do with bringing
somebody to the law. We're good at that. I'm amazed,
the way we are with the law, as soon as we start going bad,
or perceive ourselves to be going bad in some way about ourselves,
first thing we do is try to go to the law to get straightened
out. Put myself under the law to try to restrain myself, and
then I'll put somebody else under the law too. Don't do that. Don't condemn,
don't bring somebody, that's what the condemning has to do,
bringing them to the law. Beloved, we're not under the
law. We're under grace. Thank God for the grace of God. Sin shall not have dominion over
you, for you're not under the law, but you're under grace.
Now don't bring somebody to the law. If you do, you'll be brought
to the law. You see, when I bring somebody
to the law, that means that I've not really understood the gospel.
I don't really believe grace. And then he says, forgive. Forgive
and you'll be forgiven. Aren't you thankful for the forgiveness
of sins? And what I love about the forgiveness
of sins is it's not God's response to me. It's not God's response
to me. I asked for forgiveness and I
forgave my neighbor, therefore he forgave me. No, his forgiveness
begins with just him forgiving me. You find out when you're
forgiven, you find out you've been forgiven. Tell Jerusalem,
her warfare is accomplished. Her iniquity is pardoned. Don't
tell her it will be pardoned if it is. That's the forgiveness
of God. Complete forgiveness. Now if
you really believe you've been forgiven that way, can you fail
to forgive somebody else? No. No, you can't. Forgive, and you'll be forgiven. Give. and it shall be given to
you. That's God's promise. Give, and
men, it says men shall give unto you, throwing into your bosom
and so on. With the measure you meet, with
the basket you bring, God will give you his blessing. Now, passage
like this, somebody's thinking that's works. That's putting
emphasis on what we do. That's works. I just gave what the Lord said.
That's not works. It's all grace. It's all grace. And when our Lord looked at these
people, he said, if you just reciprocate to those who give
to you, where's the grace there? You see, grace does in fact make
a man different. Who makes you to differ from
another? Well, God has made us to differ.
And what do you have that you didn't receive, that God didn't
give it to you? Grace makes a man different. It makes a man love his enemies.
It makes a man feel totally unqualified to sit in judgment on anybody. It makes a man pray for those
people who despitefully use them and abuse them and actually want
God's blessing upon them. You see, grace is grace. Grace makes me forgive because
I see how freely and sovereignly I've been forgiven. Grace makes
a man merciful because they see God's mercy toward them. Grace
makes a man different. And if grace hadn't made me different,
I don't have any grace. And that's the fact of the matter.
If grace hadn't made me different. Now. There's a part of me. I'd be a liar to say it's different. There's a part of me that's no
different. It's just as bad as it's ever been. It's called the
old man. It's called the old nature. It's selfish. It's vindicative. It's unbelieving. It's sinful. It's called the old man. It's
always there, and it never gets any different. Some people looked
at sanctification as if, well, that you're just becoming better
and better and more holy and more holy. No, that's not so.
That's a lie. Somebody that presents it that
way is not telling the truth. I've got an old man. He's always
there. But I've got a new man. I've got a new man that actually
loves the Lord Jesus Christ. And I don't feel good about my
love to him, but I love him. I love His way of saving. I love
salvation by grace, don't you? I love salvation by grace. I
love that salvation's of the Lord. I love that His precious
blood cleanses us from all sin. I love His people. I love people
who love their enemies, who pray for those who despitefully use
them. May God enable you and I to be just like this. This new man in Christ Jesus. I want to be this, don't you?
May the Lord enable us to be. Now let me tell you where to
begin with here. And let me tell you where to end with here. Look to Christ. You look to Christ. You believe on Him. And this
will be you. If you trust Him only, this will
be you. If you look to yourself, this
will never be you. May God enable us to look to
him. Let's pray together.